Wolfsong
by Rebellwithoutacause
Summary: She swore in that one split second the world had never been silent and all the sounds she'd never known came to welcome her through the gates of hell. Her blood sang with the rhythm of the hunt and the rush of battle and a sweet, fierce, terrible joy spilled through her veins. Is this what her family had warned her about? She could never have said no, not even if she wanted to.
1. Chapter 1

_**My dearest readers and reviewers, hello again! I have returned to you and I come bearing the offering I promised, the long awaited sequel to Wildflower. It is a bit pointless for me to tell you that this will obviously not be in-line with the canon plot of the show. Far from it. Probably some of the most far flung of the Walking Dead fan-fiction universe, but hey, since when has that stopped me? Oh, and if you are a new reader and don't know anything about what's gone on in the past, this fic is the sequel to my previous Walking Dead story, Wildflower. If you haven't read that, you won't understand this at all, or at least you won't understand most of it. Its probably not absolutely essential that you read Wildflower if you want to continue with this...but I would suggest it. If you start reading this and have any questions about something that happened in the past, feel free to message me and I'll answer them. Wildflower is almost 500pgs, I can understand if you don't want to read the whole thing in order to pursue this story. And now, on with the summary! **_

_Seventeen years after disappearing off the face of the earth with his adopted family, Daryl's certain that this is how he'll spend the rest of his days, providing for his loved ones and keeping a very close eye on the ever rebellious and independent Luna Dixon, his more-than-a-handful of a teenage daughter. Right alongside Luna is Judith Grimes, her partner-in-crime and sister in all but blood. Life is good for the survivors, until an old enemy rips the fabric of their world apart. Luna and Judith are snatched up and carried off to a place their parents have only ever told them stories of; Atlanta. Almost twenty years after the initial outbreak, Atlanta is overrun with the walking dead, but beneath the streets a portion of the city's population has survived. Here Luna and Judith are held captive, part of a much larger plan to conquer the plague once and for all, but neither of them want anything to do with this supposed cure, or the 'civilization' in which they are now imprisoned, a place far more gruesome and bloodthirsty than anything they've ever known. Luna begrudgingly realizes the only way she and Judith are ever going to see the light of day again is if she lowers her weapons and dares to trust others, both alike, and polar opposite, to herself. In doing so, she may just discover who she really is, and what is worth sacrificing even her life to protect. _

_**Not what you were expecting? Maybe a little? Regardless, I hope you give this sequel a chance. Of course there will be hefty doses of the Atlanta Survivors (you didn't think the kidnapping of their kids was gonna go unanswered did you?) as well as appearances by some other characters in the Walking Dead that didn't make it to Wildflower. Fasten your seat-belts ladies and gentlemen, it's gonna be a bumpy ride... **_

_**So, because this is a Walking Dead fic, there are a few warnings that come along. Blood, gore, death, more blood, cussing, sex, more gore, more cussing, more death, you get the idea. So that's the content warnings, now, for the readers who haven't read Wildflower and are considering this story, it has pretty much NOTHING to do with the current canon plot of the show or comic books (which I have not read), and so if you start flaming me with questions about why the hell is X person dead (or alive) or why is this or that happening/not happening, I am going to point you to Wildflower for the reason. Wildflower started from the canon-plot in Season 1 of the show and then sharply diverged from there, with a few intersections in-between. **_

_** So now, having said all of that, I would like to welcome you to this story. I hope you all find it as intriguing and worth your while to read as I have to write, and I absolutely adore reviews, so let me know what you think! As I did in Wildflower, I will respond to your reviews in an Author's Note prior to each chapter, unless otherwise noted by the individual reviewer. Also, if you are so inclined, you can follow me on twitter at alotlikefalling where I'll keep you updated on how the story is going between chapter updates. I work 2 jobs and go to school so needless to say, I am a busy bee, but I will do my best to update quickly, particularly if I am given nice reviews, those are always excellent food for the Muse. Alright, shameless plugging over now. I really hope you like the story, let me know with comments. And now I present you with Wolfsong. Happy reading my friends! **_

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He had not dreamed like this in a long time. The air was wonderfully cool and filled with the smell of long, clean grass and the promise of a storm. He stood back in the South, he could tell by the caress of humidity and the smell of honeysuckles and the slight salty tang to the air from the impending rain. He was barefoot, standing in a field over looking a sprawl of trees, the underbrush thick and tangled but still inviting. The wind picked up speed and brushed against his skin, quick and light and teasing, roughing his hair almost playfully. Above his head the clouds hung low, so low he swore if he got a running start he could have probably touched them, the color a dark bruising grey, almost blue, weighed heavy with rain. Thunder rumbled and heat lightening blazed in the distant, flashes lighting up the belly of the clouds with bursts of white light. The green tree tops swayed back and forth in the wind, the pale underside of the leaves a stark contrast against the dark sky. Their hissing whispers as they rubbed together came down to his ears and his instincts warned him to get deep undercover. This wasn't going to be just a usual hour or two hour storm of summertime. This was a sleeping monster that was uncurling itself, stretching out its back and yawning a maw full of vicious teeth. More lightening cracked through the sky, the thunder growling insistently above his head, making the air vibrate against his skin. Something held him fast to this hilltop but his heart was beginning to race as the wind picked up speed. The grass whipped about his ankles, tickling his skin and urging him to run. The thunder cracked again as the lighting flashed, dragging jagged claws of white light through the sky.

He finally tore himself free and ran. He expected something to chase after him, something to hunt him down, or show itself to be hunted, but instead for a long time there was nothing. He raced down the hill and towards the trees, all the while the impending storm growing around him, kicking up the scents of the woods, flooding his senses with an earthy perfume that made his head swim and his body all but purr with pleasure and contentment. He felt home here, in the eye of the storms that had so often wracked his house as a child. He felt as though he had the strength to compete with the power of the storm and when he gathered his legs in a leap and hit the ground running, that power sang through him like the sharp wail of an electric guitar in contrast to the snarled drum beat of the thunder. The music in the back of his head continued building, swelling all around him, the hissing rattle of the leaves, the hum of his footsteps as they sent shockwaves up through his body while he continued running, the fierce determination of the lightening as he chased down an imaginary target. All around him the sounds were getting louder and as the darkness grew and the lightening became more prominent somewhere at his side a wolf howled. His rational mind protested the sound, there were no wolves in Georgia, but his instincts rebelled against such thoughts. The sound was too real and too close for him to question it, but instead of fear, it sent a pleasurable thrill up from the base of his spine all the way through his chest until a cry came tearing out from his throat, excitement and some sense of anticipation shaking through him, almost tripping him up as he continued running. He struggled to keep pace, feeling the pack closing in around him, running with them rather than away from them. His lungs were going to explode with the need to catch his breath, all his muscles burned, and still their song came wavering up through the sky, rattling his senses, so loud it almost drowned out the tumult of the thunder and lightening. At last when the din could grow no louder and his body could take no more he started into consciousness.

Daryl sat bolt right up in bed, his chest heaving for breath, his body shaking, skin slick with cool sweat as the sheets coiled about his hips. Those first few conscious breaths into his lungs were delicious and soothing and he sucked them down quickly, steadying the trembling in his flesh. When he was sure he had a hold of himself he closed his eyes and immediately let his mind go back into the dream. Already it was beginning to fragment and slip through his mental fingers, but some of the details were still sharp. The pungent smell of the promised rain, the howl of the wolves, the feel of the speed as he ran so fast he swore he could catch the lightening as it cracked above his head. He pulled down another breath and quieted the last of the shaking in his body. He hadn't dreamed that vividly in a long time, and while strange and completely out of the blue, he was thankful that it had not involved Walkers or other various monsters.

He shifted in bed and checked to see if Fox was still sleeping. Her naked form was sprawled across the bed, her pale shoulders rising and falling ever so slowly as she breathed in and out, the sheets twisted up around her hips. Though it had been more than a year since he'd seen it, he suddenly pictured her with her blood red hair strewn across her milky pale skin and smiled fondly at the thought. But for almost a year she'd been only with her natural color, a dark chocolate tone, darker than his own sable shade, natural reddish highlights slipping through brought out even further by the summer sun. Her hair had grown since she'd taken the sheers to the faded portions that had once been red, the waves tumbling not quite to the small of her back. She looked contented and peaceful, her expression relaxed blissfully. Even the marks tracing the left side of her face were somewhat smoothed over in her sleep, white ropes of scar tissue that had long since healed but would never fade, a permanent reminder of how close they had come to losing everything. He lightly pulled a few of the tangled locks to the side so he could kiss her shoulder. She didn't even twitch, her belly pressed to the mattress, her cheek into the pillow. He recalled the nights when he wouldn't have been able to move without waking her, her fingers curled against any part of his body she could reach, her legs all twisted and tangled up with his. Those days were far behind them, but not so far that he didn't remember, sleeping on cold floors, in the back of trucks, someone always on watch because the walking dead were never far away.

But right now that wasn't what was on his mind. Right now his thoughts were shifting to the crib in the corner of the bedroom just to the side of the window where his daughter lay. They traded shifts of who would get up with her in the night should she start to fuss. Last night Daryl had the early shift and Fox had been up with her in the late hours, well after midnight. Normally Luna was good about sleeping through the night but last night it was as if she'd regressed to being a newborn and she'd demanded her parents attention every few hours. Even now she was starting to fuss, Daryl could hear her rolling around in her blankets, the beginnings of a crying spell already starting up.

"Hang on Luna, I'm coming. Lemme get my eyes open sweetheart," he muttered as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and then hunted for his sweatpants which were piled beside the bed. Fortunately for him Fox was as unparticular about being tidy as he was, but they both would still be grateful when they could take time off out of the fields and the woods to run into town for some real furniture. As it was, their clothes were still spilling out of their various duffle bags and backpacks. This was the height of the growing season and soon enough it would be harvest time, and they would need all hands on deck to get enough food to last through the winter. All of this and more was on Daryl's mind as he padded across the bedroom towards Luna's crib, but as soon as he laid eyes on his daughter, everything melted away. She was still tucked into her blankets but already beginning to kick her strong little limbs, holding them out towards her father, anxious to be picked up.

"I got ya," Daryl murmured, scooping her up from the crib and tucking her into the curve of his chest and shoulder. Normally that was enough to soothe her, at least for a few seconds, long enough for him to start getting a bottle ready, but today she was still kicking and wiggling against him.

"Hey now, easy, don't go getting upset. You kept Momma up all night last night, she needs to sleep, or she'll be all mouthy today," he told her as he took her into the kitchen with him to make her morning bottle. Getting her to bottle-feed had been a bit of a trick, but it went over easier if it was Daryl holding her. Fox would still nurse her if she could not be pacified any other way, but more and more they were weaning her off. They needed Fox in the fields and whenever they did their once a month supply run she was still a helluva fighter if they ever ran into trouble.

Even when he had the bottle ready and offered it to her she wasn't calmed, beginning to thrash her limbs obstinately, batting the bottle away and starting to cry. Daryl rolled his eyes and set the bottle down on the kitchen table and hitched Luna up towards his shoulder, knowing that often times she liked to lean against him over his shoulder so she could watch the world.

"What's the matter sweetheart? Not hungry or do you just want Ma?" Despite the fact that he loved her with all of his heart and soul, he knew that sometimes little ones just needed their mothers. More than once Judith had caterwauled for hours at a time, simply because her real biological mother wasn't there to soothe her. He leaned his cheek against hers and noticed that she felt warm to the touch. He lowered her down from his shoulder back into his arms and touched her cheek and forehead with the back of his hand to see if he had been mistaken. She felt warmer than usual, but it could have been from her crying and fussing.

He walked with her, murmuring nonsense, knowing that she liked to listen to the hum of his voice. Eventually she did settle in his arms, her head tucked up underneath his chin. She huffed and hiccupped against him, settling down at last and he was relieved. It was Maggie's turn with the kids today while everyone else went out to work he and Rick would be out hunting while Fox, Glenn, Carl, and Benjamin would be working in their fields of corn that they'd planted almost three miles away in the delta at the edge of the river that snaked through their mountain sanctuary. These hills were far more rugged and larger than the ones they had hid in whilst in New York, and though the terrain made traveling hard, it also made it nigh impossible or practical for Walkers to come up here. They were so far away from any point of civilization that they hadn't even seen a Walker anywhere near camp for almost six months. They usually only came in contact with the monsters that had destroyed the world whenever they needed to run into town for the odd part or small luxury. They were dead to the remains of the world and that was exactly how Daryl wanted it to stay.

"I wonder what your uncle's doing right now," he asked softly as he continued to walk around with Luna. "If I know Merle he's probably looking for a cold beer and a creek to fish in." he chuckled quietly. "Good luck with that one big brother." He couldn't even remember the last time a crisp, ice cold beer had passed his lips. They did occasionally bring back alcohol from their runs into town, but in the summer it was damn hard to keep beer cold, so normally it was whiskey or rum or other liquors.

"Glenn still can't hold his whiskey, even after all this time." He laughed slightly as Luna shifted against him, snuffling against his chest. "But your ma gets jealous if I drink in front of her. So we'll just keep the shots me and the boys trade between you and me."

This was a ritual he did almost every morning with her if Fox wasn't up with her first. Normally he would have been feeding her as he talked and walked around but since she wasn't interested in eating he just held her to his chest and talked softly as he moved barefoot around the cabin, his feet brushing the wooden floor lightly. Sunlight was beginning to stream into the window perpendicular to the fireplace and he could tell already that it would be a warm day. He and the rest of the group were savoring the sunshine before it turned cold again.

"You know sometimes I'm glad you're growing up now," he said gently as his hand rhythmically stroked her back. "There's a lot you won't have to worry about. Nobody teasing you cause you're poor, no sick bastards that might snatch you off the street on your way home from school. When you're a little older, I'll teach you how to kill the only monsters left in the world. They ain't so bad, and you won't grow up scared of 'em. They won't be a shock to you like they were to the rest of us. You will be one ass kicking little girl, Luna. And if any boy ever comes around here looking for you, he'll have an army of gun barrels to look down rather than just mine." He smirked to himself at that last sentence and hummed a wordless tune, something he'd heard Fox croon to her as she was falling asleep at night.

"I love you, Luna," he murmured softly as he began to walk with her back towards the bedroom. "You be good for Maggie today." He very gently laid her back down in her crib as she yawned and closed her eyes. She burrowed back down into her nest of blankets and toys that lined her crib and as soon as Daryl was certain she had settled back into an easy sleep, he padded to Fox's side of the bed. He ran his fingers through her hair, pushing it away from the right side of her face, the motion of his strong fingers causing her to stir.

"Morning," he said with a smile as her green eyes fluttered open. Even after all this time he still loved to see the bright green irises meet his own. Their daughter had inherited Daryl's cobalt blue eyes and already both of them could tell that once she was older, they would be just as steely as her father's as well.

"Morning," Fox yawned. She buried the left side of her face back into the pillow and closed her eyes.

"Come on, we have work to do, Maggie will be here soon to take care of Luna." He pulled her hair off to the side and kissed her bare shoulder.

"I'm exhausted. Luna just would not settle down last night. You slept like the fucking dead through it of course," she growled. She slowly pushed herself up on her hands before sitting up properly, her hair tumbling down her chest and back, and Daryl could not ignore the way his flesh tightened due to her lack of wearing any kind of clothing to bed. It was something he hadn't realized was a habit of hers until after he'd finished building the house and they had ample privacy from the rest of the group.

"I told you if you wanted me to help to wake me up," he muttered when she was still fixing him with that stare that said she was going to be giving him grief.

She sighed and let her hang down for a second, her shoulders knotting up. "I know, I know. I'm just tired." She picked her head up and pushed her hair out of her face. "Did you feed her?"

He shook his head. "Tried, she wasn't interested. She's laying back down right now."

She nodded and tried to say something but ended up yawning instead. "I hope this doesn't become a regular thing," she said as she swung her legs to the side of the bed and leaned forward slightly.

Daryl smirked a little and crawled back onto the bed and came up behind her and teethed at the spot where her neck met her shoulder, which was still healing from a bite from several nights ago. His hands came up and slid from her waist all the way up her back, dragging the rough, calloused fingertips over her smooth skin. He gripped her shoulders one of which bore old white scars and massaged her for a minute, his thumbs pressing down firmly around and between her shoulder blades. She tipped her head to the side and he nicked his teeth against the line of her jaw, minding the parts where the scars marred the otherwise smooth skin.

"I thought we were in a hurry." Her voice hummed in her throat as she leaned against him, his muscled chest pressed firmly against her back while he continued to nip down her neck and her shoulders. His arms came around and tugged her against him, wrapping around her waist firmly and pulling her against him.

"Just proving that you're not _too _tired." He chuckled in her ear, his breath warm against her skin, sending little shivers down her spine.

"Oh shut up," she growled against him, twisting in his arms and lacing them around his neck. His back hit the tangled coil of sheets and she crawled against him, her body sending shocks like fire against his skin. He would never get tired of this feeling, no matter how long he lived, and it was apparent that she wouldn't either.

They had just scrambled into their clothes when they heard a loud rapping knock on the door. Daryl went to answer it while Fox tended to Luna who had started to fuss again. When he arrived at the door he found Maggie and Rick waiting for him with an expectant look on their faces.

"Sleep well?" Maggie asked in a teasing voice and that was when Daryl realized he hadn't dragged a brush through his hair after Fox had mussed it. He hurriedly tried to flatten it back down to his head and felt the back of his neck burn as Maggie struggled to keep from laughing outright. Rick had a knowing gleam in his eye and Daryl pointedly gave him a steely stare until he backed down.

Fox emerged from the bedroom holding Luna in her arms. She'd thrown her hair into a messy braid to keep it away from her face and out of Luna's grasp since she had a habit of pulling on it as hard as she could, especially if she wanted to get her parents' attention. Maggie had Judith trailing after her close to her legs. At a year and a half she was steady on her legs and determined to get into anything that wasn't bolted shut or nailed down. She talked almost a mile a minute, babbling and stringing as many words together as she could, and as soon as she saw Daryl she came running as fast as her legs could take her. He swooped down and scooped her up and tickled the back of her neck and cheeks with his rough stubble until she squealed and batted at his face.

"Stay Daryl, stay!" she chirped when he made to set her down.

"Jeeze you'd think you were the greatest thing since sliced bread." Rick commented when Judith wrapped herself around Daryl's legs like a bug clinging to a stick. The hunter chuckled and gently pried her away and hitched her to his hip.  
"When you get a little bit older you'll come with us," he promised as she began to pout at being left behind with Maggie and Luna. "So you be good, alright, don't give Maggie any trouble." He set her down on the floor and turned to Maggie who had already taken Luna from Fox's arms.

"She was fussy this morning and all last night so hopefully she'll sleep for you today," Daryl said as he double checked his crossbow and made sure he had all his bolts in his quiver before adjusting the weapon across his back. Fox had hooked her belt of knives across her hips and even now it was amusing for Daryl to see her looking just as fierce and as deadly as she had been the first day he'd met her, but now she was also doting over Luna, kissing the top of her head in Maggie's arms, crooning soft goodbyes.

"I'm sure she'll be fine. Now go bring back the bacon!" she urged, shooing them out the door after Rick said goodbye to Judith. All three left and hurried down the front porch steps and out into the center of camp where a steady fire always burned, smoking meat and even some of the vegetables they'd grown. Glenn was splitting wood, swinging an ax with ease and efficiency, his shirt off and sweat already breaking out across his arms and shoulders as he worked tirelessly. Benjamin was nearby stacking the cut wood, ferrying it to the different woodpiles near the three cabins but as soon as they saw the approaching group Glenn gratefully put down his ax and wiped his brow.

"Time to hit the road?" he asked as he shrugged back into his shirt.

"Let's do this. You two get the fun job." Fox groused in Rick and Daryl's direction, but it was playfully. She picked up the tools they'd need down in the fields and slung them onto her back before snagging Daryl by the wrist and pulling him back into her.

"Be safe," she murmured before kissing him gently on the mouth. He pulled away as soon as he felt Rick's eyes searing into the back of his neck.

"You too," he replied before she let go of his wrist and followed Rick towards the trails that would lead them deep into the woods where they would hunt for any large game that they could find. They had to be careful about what and where they made a kill however, because if the animal was too large to bring back to camp, then it was just more energy they had to burn to have the whole group come and help butcher it and haul it back. They did their best to never let anything go to waste, and anything they didn't use they were careful to burn so the carcass wouldn't attract any scavengers, or Walkers.

"Luna keep you up all night last night?" Rick asked as they pushed through the trees. The underbrush was not heavy in these areas, and the carpet of pine needles dampened the sound of their footsteps. Right now they were relatively free to talk because it was still too close to camp to do any serious hunting.

"Yeah. Fox had the late shift but she didn't really want to eat this morning either. I think she's just being stubborn," he said as he kept his eyes peeled for any signs of game to track, or predators. As they came to the pass that was by far the easiest to get into the outer reaches of their camp they carefully picked their way over the trick wire that if broken would have very carefully rigged nets as well as boulders dropping down onto the approaching enemy. The sound of the crash would easily be heard by anybody in camp, and would help to slow down whatever was coming their way. So far the wire had never been tripped, and once a month they made sure the ropes holding the booby traps in place were still in good shape, replacing them if they weren't. Today they passed swiftly over their safe guarded protection and proceeded down the hill, moving easily through the dappled forest light, the smell of cedar and pine released by every footstep.

"I'd say there's a good chance of that. Giving who her parents are," Rick sassed lightly and Daryl rolled his eyes and playfully shoved him in the shoulder, knocking him a few steps to the side. Rick returned the blow, or tried to, but Daryl skittered back out of the way before they gathered themselves and became more serious. The two men shared an unspoken connection between them, a reminder of how far they had come, and what they trusted each other with. They didn't often speak of the bond between the two of them, but it was always there, humming between them. They were as much brothers as he and Merle ever had been, and the trust between them was implicit and unwavering. Though it had been months since they'd had to fight Walkers, they still had not lost that same fluid chemistry and protectiveness over not just each other, but the group as well. The need for Rick to make so many hard decisions had passed, and since then, he had found a way to soothe his grief from Lori's death. It still had not completely gone away, he still could not often talk about it, and he usually chose to only speak of her in these quiet moments between the two of them. Daryl allowed him to do so, and in turn he would sometimes speak of Merle, and the cadence of their shared pain would be tempered.

They spent the whole day hunting but their take was less than what they had hoped for. Several large rabbits and a string of a dozen squirrels. They'd tracked a small group of deer for a good five miles but at almost six miles out and they still weren't any closer to catching up to them, they decided to head in while there was still light. In winter it wasn't uncommon for them to spend days out in the woods hunting until they brought in large game, but for now there was no need. They still had a month left before the cold would begin to become serious. They made their way back to camp and had just stepped over the trip wires when a crashing sounded through the brush. Daryl whipped his crossbow forward, ever watchful, and Rick unsheathed his python, halfway to raising it when they saw Glenn running towards them.

"Thank God. I was just about to come and track you down. Daryl, you gotta come with me now," he panted. His face was awash with anxiety and stress and Daryl quickly lowered his bow and Rick sheathed his gun.

"What's wrong?" Rick demanded.

"It's Luna, she's sick, really bad. Come on, Benjamin knows more." He spun on his heel and ran and Daryl pelted after him, his heart hammering in his throat.

They ran back towards their camp at a sprint. Daryl leapt up on the porch and as soon as he was inside dropped his bow by the door and all of the strung up game and ran as fast as he could into the bedroom. He could already hear Luna's sickly cries of pain and discomfort and his heart twisted hard.

"Daryl!" Fox called for him and grabbed him quickly into a tight embrace. He could feel her shaking in his arms and it sent another shockwave through him. He'd seen her afraid on a few occasions, but by far this was the worst. She was pale and shaking, her eyes looked like she'd already been crying, there was a sharp tremble in her jaw and chin.

Benjamin turned from where he was standing next to Luna's crib and faced Daryl. His New York accent, which had dampened somewhat since having been taken into the group's fold over a year ago, came out strong as his nervous nature pervaded his words.

"It started this morning, not long after you left. Maggie got her to eat a little but then she started throwing up and running a fever. She seems like she's in a lot of pain, dehydrated, doesn't want to eat or drink, and her temperature is rising. She's well past a hundred degrees by now. If it goes up much more we might…"

"So do something damn it!" Daryl snarled, raising his hand to shove the all but terrified medic when Fox grabbed him and held him back.

"He has," she panted. "He has, he's done everything he can." Her voice was even shaking just as much as her whole body was.

"I managed to get an IV into her to give her some fluids and what's left of our antibiotics." His hands were fumbling against each other as he paced restlessly and Daryl's eyes narrowed.

"What does she have?" the hunter demanded.

"I don't have the equipment to run tests. I dug through my books and there's a few things it could be, but to be honest, it's mimicking the fever from people who were bitten." His skin paled even more than it already was and he shivered slightly. "Obviously she wasn't bitten or scratched, so I don't know what it is. I gave her all of the antibiotics we've got left, whatever it is should respond to at least one of them. The only thing we can do now is wait it out."

Daryl pushed past the medic and went to his daughter's crib. Luna lay sprawled amongst her blankets, flushed, trembling, and crying weakly with pain, a needle far too large for Daryl's liking taped to her hand. When Daryl reached down and gently touched her cheek he felt her raging fever and it was enough to make him pull his hand back so he didn't add to her body heat with his own. It hurt so much to see her in so much pain. The only thing he wanted to do was hold her and soothe her distressed cries. Only one other time had he been in so much pain for someone else. He reached his hand down into the crib and cupped his daughter's cheek. The muscles in shoulders knotted up as he physically tried to push away the feeling of helplessness.

"I'll stay here in case anything changes," Benjamin murmured before picking up his bag and slipping out of the room to give Daryl and Fox some sense of privacy. Daryl didn't acknowledge the medic but Fox did.

"Thank you, Benjy," she murmured as he walked away. It was only then that Daryl realized Rick was still here.

"I'll stay too." The former sheriff spoke firmly but Daryl shook his head, looking up at last.

"No, go and see Judith and Carl. If anything happens I'll find you." Daryl ran a tired hand through his hair and then looked back down into Luna's crib. She was sniffling weakly but he was afraid to touch her, knowing how high fevers could make pain shoot like knives through muscle and bone. He'd had his fair share of sickness without benefit of much medicine or even a soft hand at his side for comfort. He was all but shaking with confusion and fear. It wasn't often he didn't know what to do, and now that it concerned the life of his daughter…he couldn't stand it.

"Alright. But I'll be back if you need anything." Rick ducked out of the room and Daryl turned to Fox, pulling her back into an embrace to stop the slight tremors he could see running through her.

"This reminds me of the time Cherie was sick. She was a little older than Luna but it was the same, really high fever, nobody could figure out why. All the docs at the ER thought it was some kind of weird infection that they hadn't pinned down yet. Nobody slept that night. The fever eventually broke right at dawn but that whole night we really thought she might…" She trailed off, tears beginning to slip from the corner of her eyes.

Daryl cut her off, unable to listen anymore. "No. Don't even talk like that. She's gonna be ok." He forced himself to say it because saying it would help him believe it, and he refused to believe anything else. He refused to even acknowledge the possibility he might lose her.

Eventually Luna cried herself into an uneasy sleep. Both her parents kept vigil throughout the night but as the hours wore on, their anxiety spiked. Sometime after midnight she woke with a heavy round of retching. Benjamin came running and helped to keep her on her side while Fox cleaned up after her. Benjamin's face grew more distressed even as Luna's body stilled and he got a feel for her temperature as much as could be done while she squirmed in discomfort away from the thermometer he tried to slip between her lips.

"Shit, her temperature is still rising. Daryl go get the coldest of the glass jars down in the root cellar and bring them here, now!" His accent was thick and Daryl didn't waste half a second, spinning on his heel and moving at a sprint. He threw the wooden door to the cellar that they had dug into the side of the rising slope behind their cabins. He hurried down and grabbed one of the burlap sacks and went into the back of the cellar and grabbed up as many of cold jars as the sack could hold. Dug deep into the cold earth of the mountainside this had been a perfect place to store their perishables, as the temperature rarely ever got above forty-five degrees and by the time he was back out and headed for the house he was all but shivering.

"What's going on?" Glenn asked, having been on the porch of his and Maggie's cabin and seen him go running.

"Luna's fever won't come down. Guessing he's gonna use these to keep her cool." He spoke as he jogged back to his house and Glenn followed close behind him. Daryl's heart lurched uncomfortably when he heard a distressed cry from his house. He ran inside back into the bedroom and saw with terrified eyes that Luna was sprawled out onto his and Fox's bed, her limbs twitching and kicking while Benjamin held her as still as possible on her side.

"What's happening?" Daryl demanded.

"She's seizing! There's nothing I can do but make sure she doesn't choke. It'll pass," he panted. He kept a firm hold on Luna and Fox clutched Daryl's arm, her eyes screwed up with barely suppressed tears as she watched her daughter jerking like a fish on a hook on their bed. At last when Daryl was sure that any longer and something catastrophic was going to happen she stilled.

"Luna!" Fox whimpered, hurrying to the bed but Benjamin blocked her access, using his stethoscope against the baby's chest.

"She's alive," Benjamin panted, jerking the stethoscope out from his ears and wrapping it around his neck. "Daryl, the jars."

Mindless and numb Daryl passed him the sack and Benjamin quickly took the glass jars out, most of which were filled with preserves of some kind, and packed them around Luna, letting the glass touch her naked skin. Luna whimpered and moved her limbs weakly in response to the chilly glass pressed against her and Daryl sank down onto the bed and let his hand cup his daughter's cheek.

"Is she gonna be ok?" He looked up at Benjamin and demanded not just an answer, but the truth.

"We have to wait and see."

Such a pathetic answer almost had Daryl ready to break Benjamin's neck, but he quieted the rage before it could get much further than his eyes. He knew Benjamin had done everything he could, and Daryl knew too that his answer, however seemingly spineless, was the truth.

All night they waited, pacing and turning round and round weakly throughout the house, taking their turns in sitting vigil with her while the other tried in vain to close their eyes and sleep some. Benjamin checked on her temperature and IV every hour and for most of the night there was no change, until finally an hour or so after the sun had risen Benjamin shook him awake from the first bit of horribly restless sleep he'd managed to get that night.

"The fever broke!" His voice was thick with excitement. "She's cooling down, the pain seems to be less. I think the worse has passed."

Fox, who was still awake, and sitting on the bed with Luna stretched by her leg, gave a huge, relieved smile and let several unshed tears finally fall as she bent over and kissed her baby girl's damp hair, wrenching down a sob.

Daryl moved from the chair in the corner of the room where he was sitting that he would use sometimes to rock Luna to sleep and came up to the other side of the bed and let his hand feel Luna's back. She was still warm to the touch but definitely a little cooler than before. A knot in his chest he hadn't realized was so tight he could barely breathe loosened by a small amount and he gazed up at Fox, a wordless understanding, relief, and appreciation in his eyes.

Hours later Rick and the rest of the group, including Judith, came over to the house. They left Luna in her crib to get some sleep which she needed after having been forced awake by the fever and pain all night long, leaving the door open in case she began to cry.

"I can't say for sure what caused the infection, but I think it's best we don't take chances. All of her bedding and toys need to be thoroughly cleaned with bleach. You two also need to scrub down hard, hot water, soap, the whole nine yards. I don't know what made her ill but if its some kind of bacteria or virus, the best we can do is try to keep it from spreading." Benjamin said, addressing Fox and Daryl together. "The same for the rest of you. I'll heat a tub of hot water and some bleach so we can get to washing anything that might have come into contact with her that made her ill."

"Thank you, Benjy," Fox murmured, the exhaustion in her voice thick as molasses.

"It's no problem. Whatever this was, we can't take any chances." He reiterated, gazing at them all with heavy, tired eyes.

"Luna feel better?" Judith asked, her chirping voice clearly concerned as she stared up at all the adults who were still tense and worried.

Rick scooped her up and hitched her on his hip. "Yeah sweetheart, she feels a little better. But she needs her rest, ok? You can see her as soon as she's up to it, but right now she needs quiet time."

"Me quiet!" Judith insisted, the volume of her voice only rising, which despite their exhaustion elicited a soft huff of laughter from most of the group. They bid their farewells but Benjamin stayed to help with the clean up and decontamination of anything that might have brought Luna's illness into the house.

The days passed in relative ease after that. Luna's fever continued to diminish and soon her easygoing nature returned, but both Daryl and Fox began to notice that she was different. She no longer was woken easily in the night or during her daytime naps by the every day movement of people in the house as she usually was. She no longer responded to people who called out to her when the group came over for dinner, and all of her cooing sounds which had just started to become the base sounds for words began to become even more warbled than before. At first Daryl and Fox paid little mind to it, thinking nothing was amiss, but about a month after her fever there was a violent storm on the mountain. The wind howled and the rain bore down on the cabin's roof like rage from heaven, lightening cracked viciously, threatening to strike the trees that surrounded their cabin. Luna screamed shrilly at a massive boom of thunder and Fox hurriedly picked her up and cuddled her into her chest, bringing her back into the living room where she and Daryl had been playing a game of chess on a board that Daryl had made himself, along with each individual pieces he'd carved out of soft cedar wood.

"Shh, it's ok sweetheart, it's just thunder," she murmured, but Luna took no comfort in her arms. She let out an ear splitting caterwaul so loud that Fox actually winced at its pitch.

"Here, give her to me," Daryl offered. Fox gave her over to him and he cuddled her into his chest, tucking her head beneath the hollow of his chin, wrapping her securely in his arms.

"Easy does it Luna, its just a storm," he soothed. She was still crying but he noticed that as he spoke she eased down from screams to softer sobs. He got up off the floor and began to walk around with her, making sure to keep her away from the flashing light of the window.

"There's a brave girl, nothing to be afraid of Luna," he continued. The minute he stopped talking however she began to rile up into a full-blown cry again and so he said anything that came to his mind just to settle her down. Eventually the storm eased but he still continued to speak until finally he had nothing left to say and began to hum tunelessly to keep his voice going until he felt her go lax against his chest, signaling she had dropped off to sleep.

"Daryl, something's wrong." Fox spoke with quiet but deep-seated worry in her voice. "She hasn't been herself since the fever. She's never been afraid of storms before."

Daryl turned to her and shook his head. "She's alright, this was just the worst of the storms we've had since she was born. She's fine," he insisted.

But as more days passed it became clear that she wasn't fine. She screamed bloody murder whenever anybody but her parents came to hold her and no amount of verbal soothing could console her until either Fox or Daryl had her against their chest. She had never had anxiety like this before. After two weeks of this insanity which all but trapped either Fox or Daryl in the house twenty-four seven they asked Benjamin to look her over and see if there was anything physically wrong with her. He brought over a small library of text books that he had painstakingly collected, one each on every supply run into town they made, and worked all night, hold up in the bedroom with Luna while the rest of the group stayed in the front room, trying to console the distressed parents.

When Benjamin emerged his face was very grim. It was cruel in a way, because he was so expressive there was no beating around the bush with him; they could tell just by the look on his face he had bad news. He had Luna in his arms who was squirming and kicking, already starting to scream, Fox quickly scooped her up and cuddled her to her chest, humming steadily which was the only thing that soothed her as of late.

"Sit down guys," Benjy urged, nodding towards the couch. "I have good news and I have bad news. What do you want first?"

"Just explain everything," Daryl muttered, staring hard at the medic who began to fidget.

"Alright then," he said heavily. "Physically Luna is healthy. She's recovered from the illness, cognitively she's where she should be, all her reflexes are ok. But the fever, and possibly the resulting seizure, resulted in damage in her brain." His hands began to shake and he actually had to grip the side of the coffee table to stop them from quivering. He leaned down and took a deep breath before managing to look Daryl and Fox in the face. "I'm so sorry." As he spoke his voice cracked. "I don't know how or why, but something about the fever or the seizure or both damaged her hearing. For all intensive purposes, Luna is now, and will always be, deaf."

All the blood in Daryl's veins ran cold as ice. Fox doubled over, clutching Luna to her chest, openly choking on her sobs, rocking back and forth, struggling to breathe. Daryl leaned against her shoulder, trying to steady her, burrowing his face into her thick hair in the nape of her neck. He struggled to contain the swell of emotion that was beginning to rise through him like water rises when confronted with a dam.

"What do you mean, for all intensive purposes?" Rick asked quietly, noting the choice of the medic's words. He gripped Daryl's shoulder hard to bring him back down and the hunter exhaled a very shaky breath he didn't realize he'd been holding.

"She can still hear a little. Very loud sounds, like thunder or a gunshot at close range. She can feel vibrations and if you hold her and speak, she can probably hear at least a little bit of what you say, though how much she understands is hard to know. She only wants to be held now by Daryl or Fox because she can't distinguish people's voices, only by sight or by smell, and their smell is more familiar than any of ours. Her tantrums lately are just fear of the unknown." He met Daryl's eyes steadily, his voice less shaky now than it was moments past. "It is not a death sentence. We will care for her and keep her safe. But even when she's older, she can't go out alone. She won't be able to hear a Walker coming up behind her, or anything else in the woods for that matter. But she is young enough that her brain may compensate for her lack of hearing with another sense, likely sight. My main concern for her now is language."

"Will she even be able to speak if she can't hear to learn the words?" Fox's voice was still cracked with pain and Daryl pressed his side into hers to steady her as much he could. He could feel her shaking but he kept firm beside her, forcing his own turbulent emotions to shut down until there was nothing new he could learn about the situation.

"There are a few options for you as far as language is concerned. You can still teach her to read and write and that will greatly help her communicate if she were ever to encounter people outside of our group. Now that she can no longer hear, your best bet for communicating with her is sign language. There are plenty of books to teach parents of deaf children how to sign back and forth, the next time we go for a run we'll find one."

"What about a hearing aid of some kind? I know there are battery operated ones, it would mean more runs into town for the batteries, but it could be done," Glenn suggested, causing Daryl to twist to look at him, giving him a slight nod of appreciation which Glenn acknowledged with a look of his own before turning back to Benjamin.

"It wouldn't help her," Benjamin said sadly. "Even if we managed to keep a stock of fresh batteries, the damage isn't in her ear, it's in her brain." He pulled out one of his medical textbooks and flipped it open, rapidly scanning pages until he found a cross section colored picture of a human brain. He tapped a small portion on the side of the grey matter with his finger to draw their attention.

"This is the temporal lobe of the brain, located near our ears on each side of our skull. It has other functions, but one of its primary is to interpret sound as language. I looked up a few cognitive tests for Luna to see if her ability to interpret language as a whole was damaged, and it isn't, that's a different part of the brain. She can and will be able to understand people and communicate, just not verbally or with sound in general." He met both Daryl's and Fox's eyes firmly. "It isn't a death sentence. We will have to keep a closer watch on her, take a lot more precautions, but she'll be fine." His lips twitched into a thin smile. "If you thought you we're involved parents before, this will be a whole new ball game."

"But she's not sick anymore? She's ok, right?" Fox's voice was still a little shaken and Daryl knew that as soon as the group left she would probably break down, but for right now she held herself together.

"No, she's not ill anymore. This kind of result from a very high fever like what she had used to be common before modern medicine. It was not unheard of for children to go blind, deaf, or even both at the same time. Many simply died from the seizures the fever induced. The antibiotics she had saved her life. We'll need more because that was the last of my stock," he added heavily.

"I'll put it on the list for this month." Glenn said firmly. He entwined his fingers with Maggie's hand and the group began to get up and slowly head for the door, lingering to say goodnight and to offer anything they could do if Daryl and Fox should need it. Benjamin left with Rick, Carl, and Judith back to their cabin where he had his own addition attached to the back of their home since it was not worth the intense labor and supplies to build a separate cabin just for one person, and it was good for Rick to have someone to keep an eye on him besides Carl, who was often pre-occupied with his little sister.

After they left and Daryl closed the door for the night he turned to Fox who now got up from the couch and began to pace, still holding Luna in her arms who by now had fallen back asleep. She looked up at Daryl and the tears streaked her face openly now that only he was here to see them. He went to her and took her in his arms and leaned his cheek against the crown of her head and let her weep against him. He understood her pain more than the rest of the group. Sound, particularly music, was one of the fundamental loves of Fox's life, and now that her daughter had been robbed of that experience, it was almost as if she herself had been made deaf as well.

"It'll be ok, Dahlia." He spoke softly, using her real name to show his seriousness and his faith in his own words. "We'll look after her and protect her, and she'll be just as strong as she ever was."

Fox couldn't speak. She tried to stifle her sobs but her attempts failed. Daryl guided her gently into their room so she could lay Luna back down in her crib before he took her fully in his arms and let her cry into his chest, holding her together as he always did in the rare few instances she ever broke down in front of him. When her tears finally dried she pulled away and managed to wipe her eyes but her breath still came in stuttered pulls.

"I can't imagine my life without sound," she whispered. "It would almost not be worth living if I couldn't hear music, or the world outside, the voices of people I love." She looked up at him with such distraught sadness that Daryl's heart cracked in pain for her, but he found the words she needed to hear.

"Because you know what life is like with sound. She doesn't, at least not like you do. Her life won't be empty. Benjamin said she would compensate with her eyes." He palmed Fox's cheek as she gently leaned into him and he tipped her head back so she met his eyes firmly. "The important thing is she's healthy now and she's safe."

Eventually Fox managed to nod. She pulled away from him and came to stand vigil over her daughter's crib, watching her sleep. After a long moment she looked back at Daryl and shifted slightly on her feet.

"I'm surprised you're not more upset." The honesty of her words soothed Daryl slightly. Whenever Fox was blunt like that, it was a sign she was coming back to herself and calming down.

Daryl shrugged his shoulders loosely. "There's nothing we can do about it except adapt. It's not what I had hoped for her, but Benjamin is right. It's not a death sentence. And I'm not about to let this ruin what I do want for her."

Fox looked up and smiled at him, seeing the same fire in his eyes that had drawn her to him so long ago. That fierce determination to not be beaten, to not be broken, to not let what he loved most slip through his fingers. It had taken months for him to acknowledge all of that inside him, but once he had, there was no force of heaven or hell that could shake him from his path, and seeing that determination burn in him now helped to soothe her and to very shakily put her trust in a future that had been so radically altered that she could not even begin to picture it.

**_What'd ya think guys? I crave feedback! _**


	2. Chapter 2

_**Dearest readers and reviewers, we are back! I got a fantastic response to the first chapter of Wolfsong and I have to say I am relieved to hear all of your lovely comments. It truly makes my writer's heart and my Muse blaze with happiness. You guys are freaking awesome. Seriously. Alright, enough fluff, let's roll! As promised below are the review replies =) **_

**jouetdedestin**: _Dang, girl. Had to go deafened the kid up! Nothing could be normal in the first chapter? But anywho, omg sequel! Yay!_

I know finally, right? Took me long enough. I've finally settled into some kind of a routine wherein I am hoping I can bring you guys at least mostly consistent updates. And of course, this is the Walking Dead! Nothing is ever normal in the first chapter! Glad you're enjoying so far =)

**FanFicGirl10**: _Oh poor baby Luna. Luna doesn't deserve that she's just a baby, i hope she gets better soon she's a Dixon after all amd Dixon's can beat anything. Great start to the sequel, Update Soon!_

Hello again my friend! Long time no see! I know, I was so rough on baby Luna already, and if you are at all familiar with my writing (which is a pretty safe bet to say you are xD) you know it doesn't get any easier from here on out.

**Nash**: _Aw man poor Luna, that was totally unexpected. Im loving this story and how different it is. Keep it up, looking forward to reading the uprising of luna's childhood :)_

I'm glad it was unexpected! I spend so much time working with the various chapters that I forget you guys don't live in my head, so I'm always afraid everything is predictable. Thanks for dropping in!

**KatlynIreneGlasse**: _Yes! Right in the most boring part of my day this little light appeared, thank you. Why oh why must you so rude to Daryl and Dahlia? Ha, they both start with D's, sorry I decided to start a new story sugar filled for your enjoyment. Hey what do you think Daryl and Dahlia's name together would be? Okay I think I'm done I gonna go cry in the corner cause you're mean. (I'm fancy today) Kat_

SUGARRRR! Hehehe, hello my friend, I'm glad to see you again! Your hyperactive sugar filled reviews always make my day =D I know, I was rather awful to the two of them already and its just the first chapter! I think if I was going to have to christen the two of them with a ship name, it would be Darlia, or maybe Dalia, whichever your preference. I was pretty mean in this chapter, this next one gets somewhat better….and then it all spirals out of control…

**RedneckBunny**: _Holy crap! That is a hugely amazing opening to the story. I can't believe Luna will be deaf. It'll be interesting to see how you will continue the story now with this twist forever in it. I cannot wait for the next chapter! So excited you finally started the sequel! These stories need to be published. Fanfiction needs to be a section in a bookstore just for your stories. 3_

Really? YAY! For the longest time I agonized whether to have Luna be deaf or not, because there were so many other avenues that I could have taken had she not been, but in the end I stuck to my guns, because who I envision her as isn't complete without that part of her. It makes it a challenge to write for sure, but I love it. Awww, you are far too kind and absolutely wonderful. It'd be interesting if fanfiction was actually available for purchase by fans in bookstores, I wonder what would end up with more sales, fanfics or originals…interesting question. Anyway, so glad to see you on the sequel, from the beginning no less!

**arrowsandkittens**: _I literally screamed when I saw this was up. I can tell it's going to be as good as Wildflower! Fox is probably my favorite OC ever_

Fantastic! I love hearing about all these reactions my readers get to my work, it just makes my writer's heart squeal with joy. I so dearly hope that this story will be as good or even better than Wildflower, because I poured my heart and soul into that one, as I have with this, and now that all you guys have these expectations, I live to serve, and I hope I can do it well!

**WinterIsComing01**:_ Very interesting premise you created and no, not what I would expect at all! Sounds like a good read. I like how you gave us an update a year later after Wildflower. Poor baby Luna! Horribly sick and now unable to hear. That's sad. I hope it's not permanent but if it I'm really interested in seeing how she does compensate, and overcome it. But I am worried that she will never be able to be anywhere by herself and that her newfound disability has the potential to end her life if she is not ULTRA-careful...good start! Ready for more!_

Well hello there my friend, long time no see! I know its been a while between fics, but there was a calculated reason for that, and it seems to have been paying off! I had to do quite the research for Luna's illness and I teetered many times going back and forth whether to keep it or cut it, but in the end the Muse would not budge so I kept it, and I think it will play out better this way, especially considering the rest of the ideas I have for the story. There is much more waiting in the wings my friend, much more =)

**Brittney**: _Wow. What a turn of events! Fox an Daryl's daughter is gonna be deaf. I couldn't imagine not hearing music again or hearing the sound of laughter...I can't wait for the next chapter_

I know, if I became deaf all of a sudden I would be absolutely devastated. Music means the world to me, I can't go a day without listening to it, I'd lose all that remains of my sanity without it, plus all the voices of the people I love. I don't know how I'd handle it. But from infancy is a different story. I've never tried to write a character like Luna before so this is as much of a challenge and a quest of discovery for me as a writer which makes it all the more fun to bring the story to you guys. Thanks for writing in!

* * *

_Seventeen years later…_

"Again!"

The impact of her father's footsteps on the ground hummed through Luna's booted feet. She whirled and swung her arms, her movements as graceful and as deadly as a bird of prey diving down from the sky. In her hands were twin knives, the long slender blades flashing in the summer sunlight, the light all but blinding. She twisted the blades in her hand to reflect this light straight into her father's eyes, temporarily blinding him, and lunged.

He swerved and ducked away from her blow, trying to counter with one of his own, holding a machete in his hand. He swung hard at her but she tumbled to the ground and rolled cleanly away from the blow, coming up and swinging around again, slashing so close she nearly gutted him. The grooved bark of the trees all around them jagged across her eyesight, the textured patterns colored with browns and greys and splashed with green a dizzying kaleidoscope of colors, but she kept her eyes trained directly on her father. Sweat dripped off his skin as his chest heaved for breath, hair all askew, the muscles of his arms ever so slightly trembling. Luna smirked but she knew better than to think he was finished with her yet. He kicked off from the ground and came at her again, swinging his dominant arm with controlled force and in a split second she parried the blow, the two blades kissing, almost causing sparks to fly. She could see the way the light bounced off the two metal instruments, stabbing through the air and searing their pupils hard. Though she could not hear the sound of them colliding, she felt a tremble running through her arm at the force of the blow. She flicked her wrist and swung his blade away but he reached his free hand to grab for her- a quick jab of her second knife forced his hand to snap back. As he did so she dug her feet in and thrust forward, swinging her second arm with a pointed flourish, the blade spinning in her fingers, slicing the air so close to Daryl's chest that he felt the cool wind from the force of her swing. She kicked off from the ground and came at him hard, driving him across the little glade, clearly on the offensive now, her feet kicking against the pine needle covered forest floor. The smell of the trees, cedar, sweat, and dust motes roared through her nose, the rough texture of surrounding boulders clashed hard with the blurring softness of the wind against her skin. Her muscles burned with sweet, fierce pain as she drove her father back, giving chase, her lungs expanding for more air. A strangled growl tore itself from her throat as it often did when she was excited and she was never more thrilled when she put her father on the run.

He ran up the hill heading clean out of their clearing and she realized what he was up to. She chased him for as long as she dared before at the last second when he would have crested the hill he swung back and launched himself at her. She skidded low, her boots and jeans kicking up mulched earth, unleashing more of that wonderful cedar perfume. The gritty texture of the forest floor flooded her senses as her hands bit down into the soil to stop her face from smacking the dirt as she ducked to avoid Daryl's pounce. Now crouched to the ground, her father sailed over her cleanly. He tumbled back down the hill, his forward momentum so strong that he wasn't able to slow his fall and she was already up on her feet and after him. She hit him hard in the side and chest as he skidded to a halt at the bottom of the hill at the edge of their sparring clearing and she immediately dug her knees into his shoulders to pin down his arms, resting one knife against his neck lightly. She very cautiously set the other knife in her hand aside and smirked down at him.

"Gotcha," she signed, making a rapid grabbing motion over his eyes.

Daryl smirked right back at her. "Not quite," he said, his blue eyes flashing. He twisted out from underneath her, knocking her blade away and pushing her onto her back. She bowed in her feet like a pissed off cat and kicked as hard as she could. He coughed hard and she flicked her knife against his chest with the flat part of the blade, obviously not about to really hurt him but showing she still could. Her other hand snatched up and fisted into his thick hair and pulled, twisting his head around while her knee bent at an impossible angle and drove against his wrist which forced him to stagger against her. Luna growled with approval and her father twisted in her grip as much as her strangle hold on his hair would allow and met her eyes. He resisted a little bit more, pulling and struggling but she slammed his head back hard onto the ground. Her fingers bit into the messy, sweat dampened strands, the texture contrasting with the grit still in her palms from when she'd gone down to the forest floor. Her blow wasn't with the intent to do any real damage, but enough so that it was clear she wasn't letting go.

"Alright, you got me," he panted.

She smirked and let him go, allowing him to stand up as she did the same and sheathed her knives in their holsters which were strapped to her back. "I always get you." She spoke the words, her voice thick and raspy, and she also signed as well, grabbing Daryl's wrist lightly at the end before releasing him.

"I know." He returned her sign language this time but also spoke as well. She'd learned to read lips over the years but she usually felt more comfortable when her family used her primary method of communication. It had been difficult getting used to having to sign and learning all the different movements and combinations but ever since the fever had stripped her of her hearing all those years ago, it wasn't just her parents that had thrown themselves into learning how to communicate with Luna, but the rest of the group too. Of course with all of the work that had to be done in camp to keep things running smoothly, there wasn't always time to sit down and practice all of the signs out of the different books they'd collected, so much of the way they communicated was an improvised sign language that they'd developed over the years.

"Come on kiddo, let's head back," he said, shortening the sign but using all of the words, making sure to give her eye contact as he did so. That also was one of the most important things to her, since she needed to see them speak in order to understand what was going on. Her ability to read body language was sharp as a freshly made knife and even the most steeled and stiff persons couldn't hide much of anything from her perceptive eyes. Her blue eyes, an exact mirror of his own, met his steadily and he realized immediately from her posture that she wanted to ask him something.

"I want to go on the run this month," she signed. "I can handle it." These words she spoke, going slow over the words but enunciating them with as much precision as she could. Teaching her to speak had been a long, arduous process, because unless people were shouting and she was standing within a few feet, she couldn't hear the words. It was obvious by the sound of her voice that she was hearing impaired but that had absolutely no affect on her ability to understand her world, or what was going on around her.

Daryl sighed heavily and immediately her face grew tense. He sheathed his machete and pushed his hair away from his face. "Luna…we talked about this. I don't want you to go unless one of the older members of the group is there, and this month it's just Carl and Judith going."

Her body stiffened. "I'm ready!" Her sign was accompanied by a kick of her foot to the ground. Her brow furrowed as she gestured to him, reaching over and picking out tufts of grass and pine needles from his hair. "Look at what I just did to you. I can handle biters." The sign for Walkers included her clicking her teeth at him in mimic of their relentless attempts to bite their prey.

"I said no, Luna." His voice was stiffer and though she couldn't hear it, it was radiating from his posture and the movements of his fingers as he signed to her. "You know the rules. You don't go on runs unless someone other than Carl is there to go with, and Benjamin doesn't count." He cut in just before she could raise an objection. "You know how he is."

His attempt to diffuse the situation did not amuse her. "Mom would let me go," she signed scathingly, turning away from him.

He cut in front of her to prevent her from getting away from him. "Your mother and I came to this decision together, Luna. But you know how the world is. It's more dangerous for you to go on runs than it is for anybody else, and I'm just not willing to risk losing you like that." His eyes were hard and his fingers on her wrist were stiff as he used his other hand to sign. She met his gaze firmly and realized she'd gone a little too far in silently accusing him of being overly protective.

"I'm sorry." Despite the thick pronunciation, the feeling was in her eyes. She reached up and palmed his cheek, a gesture of affection and love and his grip loosened on her wrist. He pulled her against his chest and he hummed, letting her feel the vibrations in his throat. She responded in kind and she smiled when she felt his heavy hand on the back of her head, smoothing down her messy tangles of hair.

"Come on kiddo, dinner's gonna be ready soon, and if we don't get there soon Carl will have eaten it all. I swear he eats more than a horse." He let her go but she didn't move far away. She liked his physical presence, knowing that he was always at her back, watching over her, warning her about the things she couldn't hear. She worked seamlessly with everyone in camp after having grown up with them, but with him there was a more than cooperation and coordination. They were in sync. With her mother it was a competition, who could run the furthest, fight the longest, but with her father it was a pure team effort. He had never coddled her as far as teaching her how to fight and take care of herself, but he never let her flounder either, and as her skill had eventually become on par with his, he relied on her in almost the same way she relied on him.

They were coming up close to the cabins now but he touched her on the wrist to halt her forward steps before they came back into the clearing. "I know you can handle it Luna. I just want someone who has more experience to be there with you just in case," he signed to her before taking her hands in his own. Touch was another important means of communication for her too. Not just to get someone's attention, but sometimes her calloused fingertips would trace signs into skin if she was feeling particularly close to someone.

She smiled up at him, her lips twitching into an expression so like her mother's when she was planning something devious that he almost laughed. She saw the micro movement of his facial muscles and tipped her head to the side.

"What?" She both signed and spoke her question.

Daryl ruffled her hair beneath his large palm causing her to dance back with a playful motion. "You look like your mother," he told her.

"I look like you," she signed in response, tapping the corner of her eye and then coming closer to him to palm his cheek, and although her smile was genuine, when she pulled her hand away he saw the flash of a more devious expression.

There was truth to what she said, but he was of the opinion she was just buttering him up, as she was oft to do when she wanted to get her way. In actuality she really was almost a complete split down the middle between her mother and her father. She had her father's mahogany brown hair and a looser version of her mother's waves, her eyes a mirror image of her father's, her face had a similarly edged build like her mother's, but there was a stiffness to her jaw and slight ruggedness to her cheekbones that kept her from being a micro copy of Fox. She was taller than Fox as well, standing at about five seven; her body built of hard muscle from an entire life spent doing physical labor for survival. She moved with silent, fluid grace, because even though she could not near the sound of her own steps, she could see the reactions she elicited from her environment, and so she tailored her movements accordingly. Being without her hearing had made Luna all but hyper vigilant her entire life, but it was not in a paranoid manner, merely as a necessity for survival. At seventeen years old, Luna was more lethal now than possibly even her father had been at that age, and that was saying a lot, and she moved with that same steady confidence that told the world she knew exactly what she was capable of. It was abundantly clear that she had also inherited her mother's natural domineering nature; whenever she stepped into a space, she owned it entirely, and to challenge that was to pick a fight with a she-devil. That was not to say Luna spent her time picking fights, because she didn't, but she was still a teenager, and she did still have temperamental moments. It was part of the reason why Daryl sparred with her almost on a nightly basis, to have her work off some of that restless energy. That, and if he was being honest with himself, he would never be completely ok with letting his little girl out into the world full of monsters that had killed many a well trained fighter already. And so his only solution to that anxiety was to train her as best as he knew how. Logically he knew that she could handle herself, hell if she could pin him down, there wasn't much else left for her to conquer, but that didn't change his protectiveness, or his desire for her to be as absolutely prepared as possible for the world outside their little safe haven, should she ever find herself in it.

Dinner was at Rick's house tonight and even from the porch Luna could smell the cooking meat and veggies. Her mouth began to water and she eagerly jumped the steps and went through the front door, unbuckling the harness that held her knives across her back as she did so, setting it down by the door along with her father's machete.

"Beat him up again did you, Luna?"

This teasing comment was delivered by the eighteen year old Judith Grimes who was leaning with her arms crossed over her chest against the kitchen counter, surveying the pair with a knowing smirk when she saw the dirt and ripped up grass that dusted Daryl's clothing and the lack thereof on Luna.

"He asked for it," Luna signed, quickly trotting over to hug Judith, or J as she often shortened the sign. She was the only one who did so, and it was just part of the special bond that they had. Because they were so close in age their relationship was very much like that of blood sisters. It had been a great joy not just for Daryl, but especially for Rick, for Judith to have someone her own age to grow up with, unlike the isolation Carl endured after Sophia's death. Judith had been the first to really understand the odd mix and match in Luna's sign language and had helped school the rest of them by following her lead.

Despite the questionable issue of Judith's parentage it wasn't readily apparent in her physical features that someone other than Rick might have been her father. She had Lori's slender build and prominent facial features, built almost like a graceful bird, but if there might have been one thing to give away that she wasn't Rick's child was her eyes. Lori and Shane's both had been brown, but Lori's had been a warm chocolate shade. Shane's had been dark and glossy, a thin veneer hiding a wildness that lurked just beneath the surface. If you looked closely, you could see that in Judith too. Not often, only in the moments when she was afraid or angered, but she had inherited both of her biological parents' sharp tempers, but thanks to Rick and the group's parenting they had tamped it down significantly. There were times though they all could see flashes of Shane in her, a bruising shadow in her eyes, a vicious set to her jaw, a wild expression of burning hot restlessness that was soothed only by bloodshed. Daryl knew there were some things that no matter how much you tried to train out of someone, it was in their blood. It was as he'd watched Judith and Luna grow up that he saw some of that similarity between the two girls. Luna had inherited portions of her mother's ferocious temperament and very black and white (albeit difficult to understand) sense of right and wrong. At times it had caused the two of them to come to blows when they didn't agree with something. They were siblings in all but blood, and siblings fought. Luna had a domineering nature that could get overbearing and eventually Judith would lose her patience and more than once their parents had come running to the sound of cat like screeches and found the two girls throwing down in the front yard. Rick of course had tried to intervene but Fox had held him back, insisting he let the two girls work it out on their own. They had and for many years now they had been partners in petty crimes, thick as thieves, so in-sync with each other that Luna often didn't even need to sign to communicate with her.

Rick came in from the back door and in the kitchen to greet the remaining members of the group. "Be gentle with him, Luna, we need him alive and in working order." Rick spoke, fixing his eyes on Luna but grinning as he did so which elicited another raspy laugh from Luna.

"Oh come on now, you know good and well I let her win." Daryl spoke over Luna's head but Judith signed for her so she knew what was being said. Luna scoffed, her face wrinkling with obvious playful disdain.

"As if," Luna signed to Judith. She snickered in agreement and they all followed Rick out the back door where their homemade fire pit had several large grill racks stretched over it, upon which were thick deer steaks. It was a ritual that the evening before a run into town that everyone ate a really good meal. Fox would usually bring out the guitar that they had salvaged on a supply run many years ago and Luna would sit next to her mother and lean her shoulder against Fox's and was able to feel some of the vibrations from the acoustic instrument, as well as hear little snitches of songs when the volume level of Fox's playing rose. Not enough that really made any sense, just warbled pitches and hums but she enjoyed it regardless.

It was as Fox was winding down on her playing for the evening that Luna got the attention of the group with a rasping cough. When they all looked at her, she signed for them to be able to see, pointedly not looking at Daryl, or her mother, as she did so.

"I want to go on the run tomorrow." She directed most of this at Rick. "I'm strong enough. J will be there with me, and Carl. I can do it."

Rick immediately shifted uncomfortably in his chair. Carl, who was sitting next to him, looked at Luna with a pointed gaze that said a great many things. Carl was no longer the thirteen year old boy who had gone from being a child to being a stone cold soldier in a war against the end of the world in less than a year. He was a grown man now, not many years younger than his father had been when the world had ended, but growing up in the way that he did had certainly changed him. Carl was much more quick to respond with lethal force if he thought the group was in danger. There had been times on supply runs into town or even larger cities they had encountered other survivors, and always Carl was extremely guarded and unwilling to offer help, even if it could have been spared. His protectiveness of his little sister was so much that it rivaled even Daryl's guard over Luna. There were still moments of the man he might have been had everything not been ripped away at such a tender age, but those shadows were very few and far between. Luna often listened to her parents tell stories of how the world had been before, their signs struggling to translate concepts like technology and different types of jobs, structures of society, money, and she was oft to wonder how she would have ever found a place in a world like that. How any of them would have. She couldn't picture the world without the rules it now played by. The unyielding law of the undead and survival of the fittest and that family was the most important thing. Daryl had explained to Luna a long time ago the difference between blood kin and their adopted family, and though she knew the words, in her heart she made no distinction. To her, Rick, Judith, Glenn, Maggie, and Benjamin were all blood kin, just as much as her parents were.

"Luna. We talked about this." Daryl growled, his voice low and slightly aggravated. If anything that Luna had inherited from her mother that Daryl was not always thankful for was her persistence when she wanted to get her way. It was not unheard of for her to needle and press and pester for weeks at a time until she finally got what she wanted. The concept of 'no' was not something she was familiar with in the sense that if she felt capable of doing something, she would find a way to do it, regardless of what anybody told her. Case in point, when she was only six years old, she'd relentlessly demanded to be taught how to shoot a gun, and finally after almost six months of consistent nagging, Daryl had finally caved and started teaching her how to shoot with Carl's old pistol. Fox had decidedly not been thrilled, but she had consented, only because she knew the logistics of the world in which they lived, and she wanted her daughter to have the best chance at survival, by any means necessary. She'd also schooled Luna well with her various knives, spending hours a day with her after chores were done on how to use the different blades with efficiency, both in offensive and defensive ways. Luna was a much more graceful, balanced fighter than Fox, preferring to cut and move on versus staying to beat the horse to death as her mother was oft to do.

"Talked about what?" Rick questioned. Judith's interest was peaked as well, her eyes trained on her father, and her brother.

"Luna's been asking to go on runs lately. I know she's been on them before, but she wants to go this month with just Judith and Carl, and me and Daryl aren't ok with this. I know you two will look after her like you would anybody else, but I just would prefer if someone who's older is there too." Fox cut in quickly, her green eyes flashing, and she shot her daughter a hard stare. Luna stared right back and mother and daughter met each other measure for measure. Fox was clearly not impressed that Luna had tried to undermine both her parents' authority like this.

"Why not?" Carl asked with a light shrug of his muscled shoulders. "She's just as capable as any of us."

"See?" Luna pointed out, signing as well as speaking. She met Carl's eyes and between them was a measure of thanks and respect passed.

Daryl bit his tongue in frustration but refused to be cornered. "Yes, she is." He narrowed his eyes at his daughter. "But the fact of the matter remains, if she gets separated from the group for whatever reason, she is far more vulnerable than any of the rest of us." Now he looked straight at Luna. "You know that you won't hear biters if they come up behind you."

"I'll see them coming before they get that close!" she signed rapidly, kicking at the earth with her foot in frustration. "Give me a chance! That's all I'm asking! Do you think you can just keep me locked up here forever? I can take care of myself!" She got up with disgust and stormed away.

"Luna!" Fox snapped, raising her voice loud enough that she knew she would hear, but for extra emphasis she smacked her hands together, the sound reverberating on the still, cool air. Still Luna did not turn, her long hair swishing down her back as she steadily marched away, heading into the darkness of the surrounding trees towards the front part of camp.

Fox got to her feet, determined to chase after her, and Daryl stood up too, but instead of going after his daughter, he put a hand on Fox's chest to halt her pursuit. "Let her simmer down," he murmured. "If you press her now you'll just fight with her."

Fox gritted her teeth. "She's being a brat. We have reasons for what we do, we're not stupid."

Rick got up and began to clear away the night's dishes, all of them falling in line towards the metal basin they kept with clean water to wash their dishes. "I understand where you're coming from. It's still up to you if you want to let her go. But my advice is if you do, make sure she knows its not just because she gave you the silent treatment."

Fox gave Rick a steely look, but it was not in anger. It was the measure of one parent to the next. It was not unknown to anybody in the group that Fox and Luna had their fair share of knock down screaming matches. Their personalities sometimes were so alike that it caused a deep-seated friction. They always overcame it but it would sometimes take days before one of them would crack and apologize. That wasn't the way Daryl preferred to handle things. Daryl never let his temper get the better of him when it came to Luna. It had been him to teach her that if she was overwhelmed to walk away. Never in her life had he raised his hand to her in anger. The moment Fox had told him she was pregnant he'd sworn on everything he held sacred that he would never have his child endure what he had at the hands of his own father, and that didn't just include being physically struck. That included being intimidated and made to feel unworthy or incapable.

"I'll talk to her later. She'll be safe near camp, I can track her in the dark," Daryl assured Fox.

"Are you going to let her go on the run?" Carl asked and Judith also was pointedly looking at them both. Luna was Judith's best friend, and she always felt somewhat guilty whenever she was allowed to do things Luna wasn't, by virtue of not being deaf. It wasn't Luna's fault, and try as Judith might, she knew it bothered Luna when she was sometimes sent to the sidelines.

Daryl looked down at his feet and then back up at his family. "I don't know. What do you think?"

"I think you should let her. The situation with the biters in town isn't bad. It's hardly even dangerous anymore. It'd be good for her to get some experience," Carl said, carefully meeting Daryl's eyes. Neither of them had forgotten when not so long ago it had been Daryl to convince Rick and the others to view Carl as a capable member of the group rather than as a child that needed protecting. Because of that, there had always been a nugget of deeper understanding between the two of them than otherwise would have been there.

"Me too," Judith agreed. "Luna can handle herself. She's strong and she pays attention to what's going on around her, maybe even more than the rest of us. She'll be fine coming with me and Carl tomorrow."

Fox's lips twitched with amusement. Judith and Luna were thick as thieves. If ever one of them was in trouble, the other always had something to do with it or wasn't very far behind. It had made for quite the handful when they had needed constant looking after as children.

"Glenn, Maggie?" Daryl asked, glancing at the couple with a questioning look.

Glenn nodded sharply. "Even if she did get separated from the group, she has to learn how to handle that situation. We won't always be there to protect her."

"He's right," Maggie agreed softly. Her fingers curled around Glenn's tightly, the stolen diamond ring on her left hand's finger glinting in the light from the fire pit. "There's never going to really be a good time to let her fly the nest as it were, but maybe sooner than later, in case something does happen."

Daryl looked them over once, mulling over what they had said, his thoughts mixed in with snippets of the years they had spent here in the mountains. Daryl suspected that it had been a mutual decision between them that they'd not had kids. Certainly the bond and trust between them was enough to handle it, but after that traumatizing night that marked Judith's birth, Daryl suspected it had rattled something in them, something that they weren't willing to risk themselves. Daryl still remembered Glenn at the start of the outbreak, a scared, nervous kid that struggled to shoot straight as hordes of the undead came for him. He'd left that boy in the dust many years ago, especially after he'd found Maggie. Maggie had given him something that was worth protecting and risking his life for in ways that he otherwise might not have been willing, but by that same token, he was unwilling to put her in any kind of harm's way, including the potentially life threatening process of having kids. Daryl sometimes wondered if not having kids of her own was something that bothered Maggie, as he had not been unaware of her careful devotion to both Judith and Luna when they were infants and children, growing up under her watchful care whenever their parents were needed elsewhere. He wondered if maybe that had helped soothe that empty patch in her life, torn away by the end of the world. He had never ventured to ask, but he trusted both Maggie and Glenn's judgment.

"Benjy?" Fox asked softly.

The medic shifted almost uncomfortably feeling so many eyes on him. Even after all this time, he had not lost his timid nature, nor the way his New York accent would rise whenever he became nervous. He'd cut his usually longer hair short since summer had warmed the air but it would be fall soon and so the blonde strands were starting to fall in his face. He pushed them away and looked between the two parents carefully.

"No," he started. "If it were me, if she were my daughter, knowing what I know about the world and her inability to hear a Walker or God forbid something even more dangerous than them come up behind her…I wouldn't risk it."

Daryl turned now to Rick. It was nigh impossible for Daryl to put into words what Rick, and his opinion, meant to him. Rick was the only man he'd follow unquestioningly. Merle would have called him a sheep for that, but it wasn't out of cowardice that Daryl followed Rick's lead. It was out of respect and loyalty. Rick had done something for him that no one else had; Rick given him the responsibility and opportunity to prove his worth to a group of people who, save for Fox, would have spat at his feet and sneered at him and discarded all that he was capable of just because he was gritty and rough on the edges. It was no secret that even after all this time Daryl was still Rick's second in command, the go-to if the former sheriff was out of commission. Rick was no replacement for Merle, he would never be able to fill the complicated, and sometimes bloody shoes of his kin, but in more ways than one, Rick was as much his brother as Merle had ever been. As Fox would have said, it was enough. It was what it was supposed to be.

Rick took stock of his long time friend. Eighteen years they had stood next to each other, and although that very first year had at first been rocky and often times straddling a line of threats and violence, Daryl had turned out to be one of the most steadfast and loyal people Rick could have ever come across. He'd of never suspected any of that lay inside the man that first time he'd met him so many years ago in a sweltering hot quarry outside of Atlanta. Maybe he should have, considering how gung-ho he had been to charge straight back into a Walker infested city for someone like Merle. There was a reciprocal sense of trust and honesty between the two of them. They relied on each other to tell the other exactly how it was, and where they stood in any given situation. Both men had a tendency to get lost in their own heads, and it was far easier to see the light of day if you had someone to grab you by the scruff of the neck and pull your head up to look at the sun rather than at your feet.

"I agree with Glenn. Sooner or later, none of us will be there to protect her. Either because God forbid something happens to us, or she gets separated somehow. Eventually it'll happen. Going on the run tomorrow is probably her best chance at getting at least a somewhat safe chance to get her feet wet without us." Rick's eyes settled first onto Daryl's, and then to Fox's. Daryl he knew whether he agreed with him or not he would at least be civil. With Fox, when it came to Luna, there was no guarantee. Fox had always been protective, even to the point of violence, of those she claimed as hers. If Rick had thought it had been a lot to handle before, it was ten times as much where Luna was concerned. He had a feeling that if Fox had been a mother when the outbreak had first occurred, when Shane had been alive, she would have killed him in his sleep long before they reached New York, just to make sure her young was safe.

"Besides, its not like this is her first run. She's gone before," Carl pointed out.

"Yeah, and we were always there!" Fox snapped. She curled her fingers into fists. "You can call it whatever you want, it will always be more dangerous in this world for Luna than for anybody else, I don't think we should willingly encourage her to risk her life!"

"Fox," Rick murmured softly, getting her attention as they finished cleaning up from dinner and headed back inside. "Anybody can die, any day, any time. You know that better than anyone." He put a hand on her shoulder and she looked up at him and stared him in the face. The connection between the two of them, a strange but nonetheless deep and unspoken communion, sparked and then blazed, and she recalled moments when she had shared secrets with him, secrets that she had told no one else because there wasn't need, or the only person who needed to know did know. She cut her eyes towards Daryl who was helping Carl and Judith prep for tomorrow and then back to Rick.

"Luna has Daryl's perception," Rick continued gently. "She wasn't wrong when she said you can't lock her up forever. Eventually she'll get to the point that she just leaves on her own, and then she'll really be in danger. Give her a longer leash. It'll be ok."

Fox sighed heavily. She felt the impending loom of defeat hanging over her head, but she wasn't giving it up without a fight. "Would you do it if it were Carl? If Carl were deaf and wanted to go?"

Rick squeezed Fox's shoulder gently. "When you were taken prisoner, Carl volunteered to go into the base to bring you back out. I told him no, it was too dangerous, but he insisted. Because you were part of the group and he wanted to help keep you and all the rest of us safe. I wasn't going to let him, but Daryl convinced me I should. Luna is far more capable now than where Carl was at that age, deaf or no deaf. And the run isn't nearly as dangerous as going into hostile territory. She'll be ok." He smiled to reassure her and ever so slowly, he saw the tension filled knot in her eyes loosen.

"All things against my better judgment," she muttered finally.

Daryl came up behind her and took her by the hand. "Rick's right. If we try and keep her caged here, she'll take off just to spite us, and then she really will be in danger. Better that Carl and Judith are there than no one."

"I can't believe you're ok with this," Fox continued as she and Daryl made their way towards their home.

Daryl rubbed the back of his neck and rolled his shoulders. "Fox, she's not that much younger than you were when we first met. And I know her. She's half Dixon and half of you. She's twice as stubborn and persistent as the two of us. You really think she's just going to sit back and do what she's told because we told her so? There's no point in trying to cage her. We won't win. She's not helpless. She pinned me down today."

Fox twined her fingers with his for a long time while they stood on the porch of their house. To this day she still had a hard time comprehending how all of this had happened, but never once did she take it for granted. She held on to every microsecond with every fiber of her being and there was nothing in the world that would ever make her let go. She'd proven that so many years ago, deep in a cell, hanging by her wrists, the steel edge of a knife drawing like a scorching metal ice pick through the side of her face. She arched up on her toes and kissed Daryl softly before pressing the scarred side of her face to his cheek while his arms encircled her back.

"Go find her and talk to her. Bring her home. I want to know she's safe tonight before she leaves tomorrow." Her voice held the thread of a mother's worry and he wondered somewhere in the back of his mind if his mother had ever worried about him the way Fox worried for Luna.

"I will. I'll be back soon." He kissed her temple once more before she let him go and he trotted off the porch and towards the trees, taking a path his feet knew so well that he could have done it in his sleep. He knew exactly where Luna would have gone. It was a little further away from camp than he would have liked her to go at night without having someone with her, but wasn't that what this was all about? He knew perfectly well that if he didn't lengthen her leash that she'd slip it entirely and then he really would be in danger of losing her. He recalled moments in his youth where he had done reckless things just to spite his father, his brother, his boss, anybody he had a bone to pick with. Not that anybody had really been afraid to lose him, but still getting a rise out of them was worth it. He didn't want it to be like that with him and Luna.

He made his way down the mountain slope, picking over the terrain smoothly, almost able to see the softest press of her footprints in the pine needle carpet. She had walked this trail many, many times, so had he. They all had, because the place they were going was where they always went if they wanted to be alone. Or only found by the right person.

He reached the bottom of the cliff, slipping off of the last rocky plateau and down into a grassy meadow that was tinged with silver due to the moonlight but during the day swayed back and forth with golden grasses mixed in with rich emerald green stems. Through this field he passed into another grove of cedar trees that marked the beginnings of the river delta. The underbrush began to become thicker and the terrain more rocky until he cleared the trees and reached the bank of the river itself. He expected to see Luna out on one of the rocks that jutted out over the swirling dark water and was surprised to find the bank empty, but it didn't hold for long.

He barely had time to catch his breath before he felt a stiff and unyielding hand hit the back of his head. He tipped forward from the blow but that same hand snatched the back of his hair and yanked him backwards and before he could even find his buck knife it had been wrenched from its holster and whipped upwards against his throat.

"You could be dead now." Luna grated, her voice harsh and thick in his ear. He tried to move but she jerked his head even harder, forcing his neck to crane back.

"Luna, let go." He raised his voice so she could hear him speak. "I came here to talk to you."

She released him but did not hand him back his knife. He turned to face her and despite himself he couldn't help the tiniest of smiles that messed with the edges of his mouth. She was so like her mother and even though she was royally agitated with him, it was endearing to see.

"I came to not talk," she signed, no longer speaking. He hadn't figured she would. Her eyes were hard like slate and he saw shades of himself there.

"We changed our minds," he signed. He spoke as well although his voice was lower so she could no longer hear. "You can go on the run tomorrow with Judith and Carl."

He didn't miss the way her eyes burned as bright as the moonlight on the water, but there was caution in her gaze, wariness in her stance. She didn't have to ask him why with her hands, it was written all over her body.

He beckoned her to follow him and she hovered at his shoulder as he picked his way towards one of the rocks that stretched over the surface of the dark water of the river. There was no real danger if they fell in, here at this point it wasn't very deep and the current was tepid. Further down stream it grew more dangerous, but here was safe. In the height of summer when they had a moment to relax the kids had often come down here to swim or fish and bask in the summer sunlight. He sat down on the edge of the rock and she joined him, her fingers biting into the silver surface, curling sharply around the rough texture, one hand still holding his knife.

He turned to her to catch her eye so she could read his lips but he also signed at the same time. "Your mother and I are not trying to cage you or tie you down. We just want to keep you safe. You're the only little one I've got sweetheart, I can't lose you." His hands were almost shaking by the end. He'd come along way as far as being able to say what was really on his mind emotionally speaking, but he was convinced he'd never be entirely comfortable with it.

She reached over and cupped his rough cheek with her palm and smiled a bit for him. "You won't." She rasped the words and took her second hand and put it against his chest and held it there. She could feel the steady, strong beating of his heart and her fingertips pressed down harder for a moment. She had listened to her mother's stories about who her father had been before they'd met, but it was nigh impossible for her to picture him as anything but the person he was to her. He had never been anything less than honest with her, and all of his little quivers as he did so were just something she accepted about him. He was her father, she didn't ask why when it came to him. He loved her. That was the only thing that really mattered. When she took her hand away he nudged her foot with his lightly.

"Your mom and I are gonna let you go because you will anyway," he said. He made to say more but she grinned with a good bit of sass at him and huffed with amused laughter.

"Luna, listen to me." He was more serious now, taking her hand in his and gripping her fingers tightly. "You're a combination of me and your mother. We both are headstrong, and you're twice as bad as the two of us. And that's good. You're not some sheep who can get convinced into doing something you don't agree with. But you also don't take good advice just to spite us, and that's bad. We're letting you go because you're pretty much an adult now and you can think for yourself and you can make your own decisions."

Luna narrowed her eyes. "No," she grated the word hard between her teeth. "That's not why," she signed.

Daryl shifted at her perception. After all this time he was still somewhat surprised by it. "Not entirely," he responded.

"Mom told me stories." Luna continued, signing now rather than speaking so she could communicate faster. "Your brother and your father hurt you. And they didn't let you live. And you want to be different from them."

There was a part of himself that suspected as long as he lived he would always stiffen at the memory of his father and his brother, and anytime someone brought them up. He looked at Luna and drummed his fingers against the back of her hand before pulling away so he could sign to her. "You'll do what it is you want to do because that's who you are. So knowing that, your mother and I are giving you the room to maneuver, and leaving the door open when you want to come home."

Luna smiled and took his hand in hers and traced her signs into his palm and forearm. "Thank you."

They went back to their house, Luna creeping in cautiously, looking around for her mother. She glanced at her father who was toeing off his boots by the door with a slight roll of his shoulders at her questioningly look.

"You were rude at dinner. We never taught you to storm off like a brat. You should apologize," he said.

Luna bristled slightly but didn't argue. She took her shoes off and put them in her room before padding quietly to her parents bedroom where she found her mother sitting by the window, her guitar stretched across her lap. When she heard her daughter coming in she looked up from her playing and met her daughter's gaze with a knowing look.

"Do you have something to say?" Fox asked, speaking verbally and setting her guitar aside in its little stand in the corner of the room.

Luna approached slowly and sat on the edge of the bed. Her mother always had a way of scolding her into better behavior than she might have had on her own devices, and fighting with her usually made it worse.

"I'm sorry I left like I did at dinner," she signed, forcing herself to meet her mother's hard stare. Luna was many things, but a coward who wouldn't look someone in the eye wasn't one of them.

"Why now did you get so upset? We've had this discussion at least a dozen times." Fox asked, her fingers moving rapidly as she signed.

"Because I'm not a kid anymore!" Luna smacked the edge of the bed for emphasis. "I just want a chance to prove myself, and you didn't even want to give me that."

"Luna, that's how people get killed," Fox argued with a heavy exhaled breath. Her whole body was tense but slowly unwinding with exhaustion. She sank down on the opposite corner of the bed from Luna and looked up at her daughter. "Do you remember the story I told you about how you got your middle name?"

Luna nodded, her brow furrowing slightly. "Yes," she signed. "Cherie was your sister. Carol was very close to Dad."

Fox nodded. "Yes. Cherie died in the initial outbreak, but Carol survived with us for a long time. Until she thought she could prove herself and got killed doing it." Her signs were clipped and though Luna could not hear it, her voice was heavy. "You don't have to prove yourself, Luna. We're family, we will love you and protect you the same no matter what." She reached forward and cupped her daughter's cheek, her fingers winding into the edges of her daughter's hair.

"I know that, Mom," Luna signed. "But I have to do something for the group. What was the point of you and Dad training me all those years?"

Fox sighed and she realized that she was just going to end up going around and around in circles and she really didn't feel like beating her head against a wall anymore. It was one of the things she'd had to learn how to deal with when raising Luna. The taste of her own stubbornness had been bitter medicine over the years.

"When you go tomorrow, I want you to take your guns, and your bow," Fox signed as she got up off the edge of the bed.

"Mom, it's just a supply run," Luna signed back with a roll of her eyes, but when she caught her mother's unyielding gaze she dipped her head in acknowledgement.

"Go get your stuff ready, you crazy girl." Fox signed playfully, reaching forward and ruffing her daughter's hair. Luna flashed her a grin and skittered out of the room and went into her bedroom.

At the foot of her bed in a handmade wooden chest was where her weapons rested. She dropped down to her knees and flipped the latches and opened the chest up and withdrew her bow. Unlike her father's crossbow, this was a recurve bow, and had been a gift from her father when she was fifteen. He had trained her on a much smaller bow as a child, but this was her own that he had risked a run into the much further away remains of a city to find. She had a quiver of twelve arrows to accompany it and after years of practice she had lethal accuracy with the weapon. She could shoot her father's crossbow as well, but much preferred the tension of the recurve, the feeling of drawing back the string and the sweet flooding release of releasing the arrow and watching it fly to imbed itself in her target's heart. Or brain if it was a biter. She had killed a fair few biters with her bow on the runs she'd gone on with her parents. In addition to her bow, she had a set of silver plated nine millimeters pistols and holsters for them on her hips. She pulled out her supplies and made sure that she thoroughly cleaned each gun, checked all of its parts to make sure it was in working order, and then loaded the clips. She couldn't hear the clicking when everything locked into place, but she could feel the soft settling of the parts as they slid into place. When she was satisfied with her weapons she left them out on the chest so they'd be within easy reach when she got up early in the morning.

When she sank down into her mattress for the night and her eyes closed she could hardly slow her brain down enough to find sleep. She'd been on runs before, but always under the hawk-like gaze of either of her parents, never on her own, or as on her own as she was liable to ever get. She understood that logistically she probably never would be able to move about in this world on her own, she needed someone to watch her back, to warn her about what she couldn't hear. But likewise, her family needed her too, to see the things they missed, and she lulled herself to sleep with the warm blaze of satisfaction and anticipation for tomorrow.


	3. Chapter 3

_**Well my lovelies, we are back! I'm so thrilled about the responses that Wolfsong is getting, you guys are great. Thank you so much for all that you do, it makes my writer's heart sing =) **_

**FanFicGirl10**: _I just do NOT have a good feeling of Luna going on the run. Knowing you like i do my bad feeling is probably true :( So Luna is now 17-18 years old? Update Soon_

Lol, my readers know me too well and that is awesome =D Aye, Luna is 17, Judith is 18. It was so weird having to shift gears and think of the original group as so much older now, and to be honest its still an adjustment when I write, but I always like a challenge.

**RedneckBunny**:_ Looooooved it! The scenes that play out in my head are so clear thanks to your writing. And after the first chapter, I've chosen to put in ear plugs to drown out the world to better understand Luna's situation. Decided to deafen her was the right choice. It made me try to understand her better with the plugs and I think everyone should read the story like this lol. Can't wait to see what happens on the supply run. You write so well I can't even begin to predict properly what will happen next unlike some stories I've read. The suspense kills me!_

Whoa, that is so awesome! I didn't even think of doing that. Seriously, that rocks. I can never write unless I have music going at the same time, but I may try reading in silence when I'm editing through before I post. I really waffled back and forth on whether to have that happen to her or not but I'm glad I did, because it ties directly into a lot of the upcoming interactions I have planned for her and the other charries. I'm still always flattered that people call my writing unpredictable, I worry so much about that, especially in a fandom like TWD where the suspense is part of what makes it great.

**Emberka-2012**: _I am very glad to see the continuation of the story. This is good news. Luna is so similar to both of her parents._

Nice to see you my friend, and I'm glad you find the continuation of my arc as good news =D Luna is indeed very similar to both her parents who incidentally are both very similar to each other, but also different too, and I'm hoping to be able to play around with all of these dynamics as the writing goes on.

**carniwhore**: _So I never had the pleasure in complimenting how awesome your writing truely is in Wildflower, so now as I read this from you, you're work just blows me away. i love the fact you've decided to take a different direction with Daryl and Fox's child and describe their signing with each other and the group adjusting for their younger member geniusly. i especially love the bond you've created between Judith and Luna, I had to laugh at the thought of these two fighting with each other like sisters. i find if kind of ironic how Fox's daughter is bonded with Shane's- if only she knew Fox killed her biological dad ahaha. Awesome update! Can't wait to see what you've got in store. xoxo_

Ahh, were you one of my many lurkers in Wildflower? Thanks for jumping on board the Wolfsong ship! When I started having the idea for Wolfsong in my head (which was still when I was writing Wildflower) I knew I wanted something different and so I played around with several different ideas and finally (albeit somewhat shakily) settled on having Luna being deaf. On the actual show itself, they've had charries with various physical disabilities (missing limbs and/or body parts seems to be a common one xD) but I decided to go with something that would impact something as fundamental as communication, not just survival. Ohh Luna and Judith, there will be more sibling spats between the two of them in the future, let me tell you. I have a sister as well and we're almost the same distance apart in age as Luna and J so I lift clues for their relationship from what I've gone through too. And as to the issue of Judith's parentage, there will be drama and angst for that in the future, I have so much planned, I'm so looking forward to bringing it all to you guys!

**Brittney**: _Amazing as always. I love the relationship between Luna and the other characters and how tough she is. I can't wait for chapter 3!_

I almost cut Chapter 2 down quite a ways because it was so long but in the end I decided less would not be more in this instance. I really wanted to build some kind of foundation for the bond between Luna and her family before launching into the real plot and conflict of it all, so I'm glad you enjoyed it!

**WinterIsComing01**: _Wow! So fast forward into the future. It is so weird to think of everyone being almost twenty years older and all the kids are grown up and Carl is like, what, 30 now? CRAZY! But glad that Luna has developed into the little badass we all knew she would become. I love the father/daughter relationship. He seems so much milder with her now than he ever was before. Same for Fox - both seem to have mellowed out substantially but now Luna is the new insertion in their lives with equal parts of their traits. Can't wait to see how it goes on the run, but I do know you well, my friend, and I fear the worst..._

I know! That was something I had to really adjust to as I was writing this. Picturing Carl as 30 was like… 0_0 almost impossible. Daryl is indeed much more levelheaded now than he ever was in the past, in part from age (most people do mellow with age, although there are a rare few that get crankier) and in part from being a parent. Luna's definitely made him a little bit softer, a little bit sweeter, again, I took cues from the sticky sweet fluffy moments in the show when he was taking care of Judith. The same goes for Fox too, although as far as she's concerned, she and Luna are so headstrong and cling to their pride in such a way that they butt heads, but I think that's something most mothers and daughters do. You do know me well my friend…very well… ;)

**Kalo Suva**: _I really like Luna in this story, because she reminds me of my mom. My mom was about Luna's age when she got sick and lost her hearing and while she doesn't swing around knives and take down rednecks she is very independent and can handle herself :P. So yeah, I really appreciate how you made Luna a very capable person even though she's deaf :)_

That's awesome! I definitely didn't want Luna to be someone who felt victim to her disability, or any less capable, or even more fearful for her safety because of it. Granted, some of that could be overconfidence on her part, but, that shall be decided later as Luna gets a taste of the world outside of camp ;)

**Jerrie Higarashi**: _Oh how much I missed reading your writing :) So happy that Luna is doing well even though she can't hear very well. Fox and Daryl are such amazing parents. Love the bonding between Judith and Luna. It's so beautiful and you just started it. I have so much to say right now but I think that I'm gonna save it for the next chapter. Ciao Darling._

Hello my friend, so glad to hear from you again! Aye, Luna has indeed adjusted to life in a mostly silent world, but it will play to her advantage later on down the road, I'm so excited to show you guys what's in store for her, and for the other members of camp too =) Hah, the bonding between the two girls is only just begun, but because this is the Walking Dead it won't all be sunshine and roses unfortunately xD. Can't wait to see what you and all my other wonderful readers think of what I've got in store!

**KatlynIreneGlasse**: _Yay! Luna gets to go on the run! I prefer Darlia for their name together. I'm in a serious hurry, I always read this at stupid times, my sister literally just had a baby, yay I'm an aunt! Anyway I am about to vist her so great chapter can't wait for the next one! See ya! Kat_

Awww, awesome, you're an auntie! Congrats! Next chap is the run and I'm looking forward to what you guys have to say about what happens ;) See ya there!

* * *

Her feet had hit the deck long before the sun was up, and giving that this was high summer, that was saying something. She yanked her clothes on in record time and decided to go with her heavy duty combat boots on her feet incase she had to kick down a biter. Or a door. Both had happened in the past. She went to the little pegs that had been drilled into the wall of her room near the corner that served to hold the clothes she wanted to hang. There weren't many, but one of them was a black denim vest, and sewn into the back was the carefully crafted image of a wolf, head up, ears back, fur ruffled softly, a thick plumed tail curled around its flanks as it howled to the crescent moon just behind it's head, the fabric stark white against the black of the denim, similar to her father's angel wing vest. Maggie had done the actual sewing involved, but the idea had been from her parents, and a gift for her sixteenth birthday. Also added onto the vest was a large hood so that if she was out in it for long periods in the fields or on a hunt, she could protect the back of her neck from the sun as well as shade her eyes. She pulled the vest on over her body and immediately felt secure and almost empowered in a sense. Not only because it reminded her of her family, but because of what else was tucked away inside it. It was a knife, about half the size of the weapons she carried on her back, the blade curved markedly and had the sharpest, most lethal edged she'd ever come across. The edge was so sharp that if she cut fast enough, her victims (all animals up to this point) wouldn't even feel the pain of the cut before they bled out, but what made it even more special was its hilt. Handmade of red stained mahogany wood, and carefully carved into the wood was a message from her parents. _I'm the weapon of last resort, hold me straight and true, the blood worth saving is worth more than the blood set for spilling. Use me to protect, not to hurt, and you'll always find your way home. _She read the message several times, running her fingertips over the carved words and breathed in deep. Her parents had told her stories of the group before they'd settled here, the hard, sometimes devastating choices that they'd had to make in order to stay alive. She could hardly imagine what it would have been like to be there as the world was literally falling apart around them over the course of that first year, and she didn't take the imprinted words lightly. She made sure the knife was tucked into its holster and then strapped it inside her vest where it pressed gently against her ribs, brushing against her with every breath. She settled back into her skin and turned to her other weapons.

She buckled herself into the harness for her long knives and belted on her guns. The added weight on her hips was comforting and on a whim she yanked one free of its holster, spun, and aimed it at an invisible enemy, caressing the trigger very softly, not nearly enough to loose a shot, but the feel of the weapon in her hand was pleasant, the metal cool and the textured grip of the gun reassuring against her palm. She holstered the gun and then slid her quiver of arrows across her body and then her bow.

She got up to her feet and left her room and found her father waiting for her in the kitchen. He greeted her with a nod of his head which she returned and she snagged a piece of deer jerky off her father's plate when his back was turned. When he came back for the piece of meat and saw it missing he rolled his eyes.

"Getting slow, Dad, pretty soon the biters are gonna getcha," she signed with a huff of deep throated laughter.

"Hey, you have some respect," he growled, lightly thumping her on the back of her head before she could get out of the way. "Your old man has killed plenty of biters and still not a scratch."

Luna nodded as she tore a bit of jerky off with her teeth. "Mom told me when J was born you and Glenn and Maggie fought off a herd on a supply run."

Daryl felt the back of his neck flush a bit which he unconsciously rubbed before he could stop himself. He shifted against the counter, holding a cup of black coffee in his hands, taking a good swig before he responded.

"That's true. Me, Glenn, and Maggie had gotten caught looking for supplies for Judith and it was do or die." He signed rather than spoke, feeling those memories wash over him. It was still one of the nights that stalked his dreams. The screaming in both rage and terror as he and two of his adopted family had fought tooth and nail for their lives against an army of undead monsters, hacking them to bits, firing off rounds, blood spattering, gore splashing every which way as blackened entrails dragged the floor and made it slick, almost impossible to get any traction to flee as they struggled to make it out alive. He glanced at Luna out of the corner of his eye and was thankful when she was not looking at him. That had been the same night his daughter had been conceived. He still remembered coming back to the school the group had been sheltering in, still remembered Fox pressed belly to belly against him, both of them hanging onto each other for everything they were worth as both of them only half acknowledge how close they'd come to losing each other. He glanced at Luna again out of the corner of his eye, thankful she was busying herself with breakfast and thus not watching him. If he'd had a chance to do it over again…he would have waited to have Luna until they'd been settled in their current home, to lessen the risk, but they'd come through alright, and he counted himself very lucky for all that he still had in his life.

Luna rapped her knuckles on the counter to get her father's attention. When his head snapped up and he looked at her, she signed "Why wasn't Rick there?"

Daryl tilted his head for a moment, trying to figure out how to answer. "Lori had just died. Rick was in a mad place." He spoke faster than he could sign, trying to find a way to translate what he meant into a physical manifestation. He turned to Luna and took her by the hand. "The shock was too much for him to take for a while. But he came back."

There was so much unspoken words between them in that one moment, but Luna felt everything that he wanted to say. That those dark days were behind them and that she need not worry of such things. The sun was beginning to turn the sky from black to a deep shade of indigo and navy blue and she knew Judith and Carl would be waiting for her soon. She cupped his cheek and pressed her second palm to his chest, blinking her eyes up at him.

"I'll come back," she said. "Promise."

A crooked smile crossed his face for her as he nodded. "I know sweetheart."

"I love you." These words she also spoke as well as drawing the letters into his skin lightly. He returned the affection and she wrapped her arms around his shoulders tightly. Even through his shirt she could feel the scars on his back and the hard muscle underneath them. She would never comprehend how kin could hurt other kin but she was thankful that she had never faced that worry. There were other pressures, stocking food for winter, biters, the chill of icy nights, predators in the woods, sickness, injuries, but she always had her family at her side. As long as she had them, everything else she could handle. Everything else had an answer. She didn't know what she would do without them, any of them, but especially the thought of being without her father was something she couldn't even begin to picture.

She let go of Daryl when she felt him shift slightly against her. Though she couldn't hear her mother's footsteps, she could feel the slight vibration in the floor from the weight of her feet on the wood and when she came just a little closer she caught the scent of spice and cedar woods.

"Didn't think you'd sneak out without saying bye to me did you?" Fox asked as Luna turned to her.

Luna shook her head and smiled before opening up her vest and showing the knife tucked away there. Fox nodded sharply with a slight grin and pulled her daughter into a tight hug.

"Give them hell," she signed, drawing the words into Luna's arm. She squeezed her mother's wrist tightly and drew the sign for 'I will' into her skin before she palmed her left cheek, feeling the raised ridges of her scars. Both her parents bore marks from their pasts, earned in different ways, but all signs of how much they had endured, that they had survived, that they had fought for. It was all Luna could do to hope that she could measure up somehow.

Just then the Jeep they'd be taking into town rolled up front. Luna couldn't hear the horn that was blowing but she'd seen the flicker of light change from behind the door from the car's headlights.

"Love you, Mom. Keep Dad on his toes while I'm gone," Luna signed as she pulled away and grabbed another piece of jerky before she spun on her feet and headed out the door. Daryl tried to stop himself but he couldn't help it. He followed her out and watched with a very paranoid heart as she climbed up into the Jeep and immediately began to sign with Judith, hardly even noticing he was there. Daryl came up on the driver's side where Carl was shifting gears and caught his eye.

"You watch out for her." He couldn't stop the threatening growl that leeched into his voice.

A flash of a slightly nervous look passed over Carl's face before it vanished and he grinned at the man. "How much trouble can she be?" he asked. When Daryl obviously didn't take to the humor, he continued. "Don't worry, Daryl. Save your squirrels to throw at someone else. It'll be fine. We'll be back by nightfall."

Daryl nodded and watched as Carl wheeled the Jeep around and headed for the highway through a carefully cut path that they had created over the years from their once a month supply runs. Daryl watched them go until he could no longer hear the rumble of the engine or its tires crunching over vegetation and rocks. He wasn't quite ready to turn around when he felt Fox come up behind him.

"They'll be fine," she murmured into his ear, lacing her arms under his and squeezing his waist a little, tugging him against her.

"I know. It's just never easy to see her leave." Daryl couldn't relax, even when Fox's hands came up his back and squeezed his shoulders, trying to loosen him up.

"It's just a regular run. She'll be back tonight with stories of less than a dozen slain biters." Fox reiterated. "And we haven't had a chance like this in a long time." Her voice had dropped down to a huskier croon than usual and now she tugged on his hair slightly, causing him to turn around. Her eyes were blazing with a hungry look and he couldn't deny the way his skin tingled as her eyes raked over him in all the right ways. His hands dropped to her hips and tugged her close even as she began to back up towards the house.

He let her distract him until well past sun up, well past when they were due to be in the fields for work, and when Glenn came pounding on their front door, the only sound that answered him was a strangled howl from the bedroom.

"Really guys?" he muttered to himself. He flopped down on the porch, content to wait them out, but after almost an hour and many sets of shrill pleasured filled shrieks grated through his ears he got up and made the three mile trek back to the fields where Rick, Maggie, and Benjamin were working.

"Where the hell are they?" Benjamin demanded, wiping sweat off his brow as he stretched his back from where he'd been digging in the ground. Rick nodded in agreement and looked at Glenn expectantly.

"Has Fox ever made work a priority if she's got an itch to scratch?" Glenn shot back.

Maggie snorted and Rick rolled his eyes while Benjamin cussed a blue streak, his New York accent so thick that it was hard to understand him as he ranted about bitches getting special treatment and needing to be slapped. Or something along those lines, Glenn really couldn't tell.

"It's one day Benjy, calm down," Maggie said eventually as the Yankee was still hissing under his breath, his hands digging through the soil, wrenching weeds out from between the stalks of wheat with violent force.

"Easy for you to say," Benjamin mumbled, his voice finally returning to normal.

"Aww, is someone feelin' lonely?" Maggie teased causing the blonde to blush something fierce and shut his trap faster than an alligator with a fish in its jaws.

Glenn took his place beside her and they worked together in the fields, their movements almost entirely in sync, until Glenn playfully nudged Maggie's shoulder with a grin.

"Maybe we should call it in tomorrow," Glenn whispered, lightly nipping Maggie's shoulder when Rick's back was turned which caused her to grin.

"Maybe we should," she agreed, her eyes flashing brightly, the answer to a question Glenn had been aching to have answered for a long time. They typically kept their trysts reserved for when people went to bed after having been walked in one too many times by other members of camp, but if Fox and Daryl felt like they could take liberties, then they could too. It was only fair after all. When they went back up to the house the sun wasn't quite down yet. Maggie and Glenn set to work on fixing something for dinner and Fox and Daryl finally emerged.

"Don't even bother mumbling your way through some lame ass excuse, Dixon. Must be nice to lounge in bed all day gettin' screwed six ways to fucking Sunday while the rest of us are breaking our backs." Benjamin growled as the two of them cautiously crept into Maggie and Glenn's cabin with the rest of the group.

"Shut your trap, Blondie, you're just jealous. Sides, when I'm bringing home bacon in the dead of fucking winter you'll whistle a prettier tune. I do my fair share," Daryl rumbled right back. Benjamin looked ready to argue with him until he was on the receiving end of one of Daryl's legendary stares and began to wither sharply. Fox slunk around behind him and cuffed him lightly on the back of the head for good measure. He ducked at the light blow and tried to grab for Fox who danced out of his reach but just barely, wincing as she moved, her legs and hips very stiff.

"Ooh, someone's getting slow. Maybe it wasn't Daryl gettin' screwed six ways to Sunday," Benjamin snickered coyly noting the way Fox was moving.

"I can still wrangle you faster than a viper can kill a squirrel," Fox warned, but there was a playful under-bite to her voice.

Daryl slunk away from where the two began to good naturedly wrestle and accepted a grateful shot of whiskey from where Rick was nursing his own glass near the counter in the kitchen. The two men met each other measure for measure and now Daryl did feel like he might owe some sort of apology.

"Call it in tomorrow if you want, Fox and I'll work double time," he offered, knocking back his shot, the burn distracting in a very pleasing way.

Rick waved his distorted apology away. "It's alright, Daryl. I shafted Shane more than once when Lori didn't wanna let me out of the bedroom."

Daryl shifted a little and was thankful nobody else was paying any attention to them. "They give us shit all the time about how we just wanna screw, somehow I think the end of the world went and turned the tables," he observed.

Rick shrugged his shoulder. "Who knows?" He took another drink of whiskey from his glass.

Daryl sensed the man's mind was elsewhere. He understood. Both the man's children were away from the safety of camp and as time wore on, they expected them to be home soon. His thoughts shifted and he poured himself another shot of whiskey and knocked it back quickly before capping the bottle.

Dinner was about to be on the table when they heard the car engine rumbling outside, but something was wrong. Normally the runners would have come in and asked for help in hauling everything into its designated place before settling into dinner, but this time it was different. Daryl and Fox had barely had the chance to turn around to go to the door when it flew open and Carl appeared, blood all down his front, streaked across his face, his hair askew, clothes ripped almost to the point of being shredded, eyes wild with a crazed light.

"They're gone!"

* * *

"Showtime ladies," Carl murmured softly.

They had parked the Jeep at the edge of town and they all piled out, moving carefully and quietly as they did so. This little town, who's name they didn't know because it had long since been ripped off the signs due to weather and exposure to various other elements of decay, was very quiet. The breeze was cool and soft on Luna's skin but brought with it the faint scent of decay and acrid rot. She stiffened and pulled out her bow and a single arrow, her eyes peeled. Immediately Judith tensed beside her and Carl took note as well, watching Luna's intense expression. He followed her gaze up the main street that led into town and watched as she whipped out from around the Jeep and notched her bow and pulled the string back smoothly and let the bolt fly. It sailed fifty feet and lanced into a broken open window of the closest building and impaled a biter that had been very slowly shuffling towards the outside world, drawn by the sound of the engine.

"Damn," Judith murmured. She hadn't even seen a flicker of movement or heard a twitch of sound from where Luna had shot.

"Death scent," Luna signed, by way of explanation how she'd been alerted to the biter, stringing her bow back across her body and keeping a steady look out. "Only the one," she assured them.

"Come on. Stick together. Luna, get your arrow and then let's go," Carl urged. Across his body was a rifle and in his hand was a pistol armed with a homemade silencer. His shaggy hair was in need of a trim and the breeze blew it haphazardly across his pale cheeks his sharp blue eyes sweeping over the street, noting any twitch of movement.

Luna moved swift and light, her feet hardly disrupting even a pebble as she loped up the street, keeping her bow out as she moved, her eyes peeled, looking for any sign of movement. The air tasted cool with just a faint hint of death that grew stronger when she came closer to the slowly crumbling building. The window was low to the ground, easily able to be stepped over, Luna picked her way over the broken glass carefully, finding the biter she'd shot, an arrow imbedded in its skull. She yanked it free easily, not able to hear the sound of blood oozing out or the bones continuing to crack as she did so. But she did keep her head up, her eyes spearing through the darkened building, keeping watch for anything that moved. The wind rustled a few dead leaves on the floor and caused a curtain that was heavy with dust to twitch, but there was nothing else in here.

She stepped back out and rejoined her companions, naturally taking her place out in front. Luna took point whenever opportunity presented itself, not only because she had the best eyesight, but also because she was far more vulnerable to be snuck up on from behind and so having someone at her back gave her eyes in the back of her head. She had the arrow she'd retrieved lightly strung up, ready at a moment's notice to pull the bow back and fire if necessary.

"What's on the list?" Judith asked as they continued up the streets, lonely power lines tracing like dead veins through the sky that was hazed with iron grey, a promise for rain. The sides of the buildings were scraped away, chipping, faded paint peeling off like layers of skin, revealing the worn age of the structures around them. Weeds and other plant life had burrowed through the concrete and made the roads and sidewalks uneven and cracked, little flecks of white rock skittering every which way as they made their way down the street. The world felt eerily still, even when the breeze blew, carrying the smell of cool moisture and just the very faint tang of death that always lingered through any portion of civilization.

"We need medicine, Benjamin said his stocks were getting low. Fox wanted us to see if there were any strings for the guitar, Daryl wanted cigarettes and a bottle of whiskey, we need more soap and…" Carl trailed off and Luna darted forward and snagged the list out of his hands and scanned down it. She snickered when she did so and passed it to Judith.

"Come on girls, be mature," Carl muttered as Judith began to laugh right along with Luna. When both girls couldn't choke down their laughter, Carl rolled his eyes and plucked the list out of Judith's fingers.

"Hey, those condoms could be for your parents, Luna, doesn't have to just be for Glenn and Maggie." Carl's voice was teasing and his eyes delivered a mischievous spark which made Luna freeze in her tracks at the thought of her parents needing condoms. Her shoulders rolled and she pulled a face that made Carl snicker.

"Screw you," Luna signed, flipping him off as they made their way up the street towards the pharmacy, where they'd find at least some of the supplies they were looking for.

"Great. Now I won't be able to look my parents in the face for the next week," Luna signed to Judith as she fell into step next to her sister. Judith grimaced sympathetically.

"He does it on purpose," Judith agreed. She readjusted her shotgun across her shoulders and a small sliver of the large machete belted to her narrow hips gleamed in the sunlight that managed to break through the iron grey clouds overhead. Despite her small frame and almost delicate build, Judith was comfortable with weapons large and small. She tended not to carry as many as Luna did, but she could pack a helluva kick if she needed to, and from a young age Rick had taught her how to shoot straight, and Fox had been instrumental in teaching her how to use her machete, or any bladed weapon, with maximum efficiency.

They rounded a corner and had one more block to go before they reached the pharmacy. All of Luna's senses ratcheted up, little currents of electricity crackling over her skin, making her palms tingle slightly in anticipation. There were three biters on the far corner of the street where the pharmacy was located, shuffling slowly, filthy clothes barely hanging onto their emaciated frames, straggled hair falling out as they dug through an overturned dumpster, rooting around for anything remotely edible, boney arms and fingertips scraping the metal container. They'd only started scavenging from this town a month or two ago, having slowly but surely cleared the ones closer to camp. They'd driven a good two and a half hours at high speeds to get down here, blowing past some of the towns that were closer at the base of their mountain refuge having already picked them clean. The last thing, and the thing they always made sure they took back with them, was gasoline- since it took so much to get down here, and they always liked to have all of their vehicles topped off just in case something happened and they had to run.

Judith unsheathed her machete as she approached the biters on quick, small feet, Luna and Carl flanking her. The biters noticed their approach almost immediately, raising their heads out of the dumpster, staggering on ruined feet as they stumbled towards them, arms outstretched, mouths open, blackened rotting gums exposing deadly teeth. Luna wrinkled her nose at the disgusting smell but she didn't let out a single sound. She and Judith moved in unison and struck a single biter each, Judith with her machete, and Luna with one of her daggers, having stowed her arrow and bow. The blade sank in quick and deep into the blackened skin and brittle bones, leaking blood from the wound as Luna quickly yanked her dagger free and let the biter drop just as Judith did the same. She had taken her target's head clean off its shoulders and then Carl had swept in beside her with his own large bowie knife and stabbed, silencing its biting movements. The third biter lay forever stilled by his feet, its temple bearing a bullet hole, the sound of the gunshot suppressed with the silencer.

"Come on," Carl spoke quickly and Luna nodded, wiping her blade on a rag she had tucked into her belt for just such an occasion. They all carried one, long since having learned that keeping their weapons clean kept them in better working order.

They stepped into the pharmacy, having already propped the door open so they didn't have to risk jangling the bell attached to the door every time they came in. Luna crept cautiously, keeping her eyes peeled for any sign of movement. The slightest flicker in the back corner caught her eye and a low growl was bitten through her clenched teeth. She slunk forward, Judith at her back. The dim light of the store made the textures run together and the colors of the items and surroundings seem to shift and slide against each other like tangled sheets against Luna's skin. She blinked once to bring herself back into the moment, taking a long breath, tasting death and rot on her tongue. She felt Judith's warm presence at her back and was comforted, the rapid beating of her heart easing back down slightly. Until she rounded the corner.

A massive pool of red, sticky blood was caked to the floor, pouring from a human body splayed out against the base of the wall and caught slightly on some shelving nearby, the limbs spread eagle, neck twisted over, a deep bite wound in the side of the man's neck, the arms and legs completely chewed to the bone, just like they would strip meat off of a rack of ribs. Luna's stomach rolled and she skittered back a step, a strangled sound coming from her throat in surprise.

"Carl!" Judith called, getting her brother's attention from where he was stuffing supplies into his bag from the other side of the store. He came trotting over and skidded to a halt in his tracks when he saw the mangled corpse. It wasn't an entirely uncommon sight, but what made this body unusual was the fact it was fresh. The color wasn't entirely pale, the blood was red and had yet to congeal on the floor, and the corpse was obviously not a biter yet, still laying quietly, not having been raised again from the dead.

"This happened recently. Within hours," Luna signed, looking quickly to Carl and Judith.

"Look at the clothes. This isn't someone who lives around here," Judith noted. She lightly prodded at the man's attire, which consisted of camouflage, heavy duty boots, and what appeared to be a bullet proof vest. There was a gun holster on his leg and an empty sheathe for a knife on his calf.

"Could have been…" Carl murmured, turning the man's head this way and that, looking for the extent of the bites. There was even flesh ripped off by the back of the skull from voracious biter teeth, bits of hair and scalp trailing the floor.

"If there's one, there might be more," Luna signed, her eyes flashing hotly. She looked up at Carl, her heart beginning to thump hard in her chest.

"Let's get what we need and go," he growled. Luna nodded and they all got to their feet and Judith took her blade out and rammed it cleanly through the man's skull, preventing him from coming back as a biter. It was the most humane thing to do.

They scanned the pharmacy, moving fast, grabbing up what they needed and stuffing it into the bags they'd brought with them. When they were loaded up and ready to head to the next spot, they turned to leave, still on edge about the fresh corpse. Luna kept her eyes peeled and took a detour around to the back lot of the pharmacy, having noticed that one of its windows was broken. The glass was knocked on the outside of the building, littering the asphalt beneath the sill, scarlet blood flecking some of the jagged remains.

"J!" she spoke her sister's nickname to get her attention. She whirled around the corner and came to Luna's side, Carl bringing up the rear quickly, making note of a small group of biters at the far end of the lot that were headed their way.

"Look! It's fresh!" Luna signed quickly. "Someone's nearby. They might be alive. Someone jumped the window to get away."

"Who would do that?" Carl questioned as he stood up. "Never mind. We don't have time for that. Whoever it is, they're gonna have to manage on their own. We have stuff to do. Let's go!" His voice was sharp and unquestioning. He began to pull away and Judith made to follow but Luna stayed for a moment longer, staring down at the scene. She was conflicted inside. Someone was out there and probably injured and needed help, but there was no sign of them, and more biters headed their way. She wanted to stay, she wanted to track the blood trail that was spattered on the pavement and find out who was nearby, but as she looked up and saw the biters staggering towards her, their jaws snapping, unheard rasping growls wheezing through their chests, arms outstretched towards her, she skittered back.

"Luna!"

She very faintly heard a distorted version of her name as Carl yelled for her. Luna leapt back away from the stiffs and sliced one through the face, stabbing another clean through the skull, but three others were closing in. She scrambled back, heart racing like a jackrabbit kicking madly behind her ribs. She inhaled sharply, spun, and ran, using the speed in her living legs to put distance between her and the corpses and as she turned, she saw Carl with his pistol raised. Luna ran to their side as he popped off three shots and dropped the biters to their eternal rest. She skittered up to her family and sucked down a clean breath of air that was less tainted by death-scent, trying to quell the slight tremble in her hands.  
Carl lowered his pistol and then rounded on Luna. "When I say come, you come, you got that?" he snarled. She didn't need to hear his voice to feel the anger radiating off him.

"I'm fine!" she signed back angrily, standing up to her full height and wiping more blood off her dagger.

"You could have been bit!" Carl snapped. "This is why your parents didn't want you going on the run! You don't listen!" He spun on his heel and stalked away. Judith and Luna followed at his heels and the two girls looked at each other.

"I had it under control," Luna signed to Judith.

Judith nodded but bit her lip slightly. "It was a close call," she signed, not quite meeting Luna's eyes.

Luna huffed an annoyed breath. "I could have kicked their asses," she shot back, scraping her boot against the pavement for good measure.

Judith snickered at Luna's bravado. The girl had a double dose of pride inherited from her parents. It was the hardest thing in the world for her to admit that she'd either made a mistake or wasn't as capable as she thought. Judith had long since learned not to challenge Luna too much when it came to that, less they end up bickering, or even brawling. "Sure you are, Luna-tic."

Luna's face morphed into a teasing expression of anger. "Skinny twig!" she shot back, but at this point she was all but choking on laughter, even as they followed Carl back onto the town's main street.

Judith gave off a mocking affronted expression. "Angry bitch!" she retorted with a playful, teasing light in her eyes and a mischievous grin on her face.

"Featherweight!"

The two dove towards each other to begin a wrestling match, and if they had been at home, Carl would have kicked back and watched to see who would win while people took bets, but due to their situation, and the fact he was still irritated at Luna for being stubborn, he wrangled them apart.

"Enough! You two can screw around later when we get home. We've got work to do!" he growled. He let both of them go and they straightened up again and slunk back towards his heels.

"Jeeze, he's worse than Dad," Judith signed as they moved deeper into town.

"Damn straight. What crawled up his ass and bit the bottom of his spine?"

Judith choked on Luna's choice of words but stifled her laughter when they approached their next destination, a car garage in order to take some spare parts, just in case something decided to break down right at harvest time and they couldn't waste the gas to go into town so soon. Carl had both girls wait outside and keep watch while he went in and began looking for the parts they needed, but in the stillness, Luna's mind began to spin again. Maybe whoever they'd found had tried to escape out the window but then had been pulled down and devoured by the biters. It wasn't uncommon for biters to abandon a kill from being distracted by a noise or another scent, forget that it was there, and only stumble on it again later by accident to finish. She kept her eyes peeled for any sign of movement with Judith until Carl returned before they started to head back to the Jeep in order to put their supplies inside and drive until they found a place to siphon off gasoline. There was a station half a mile away but they had nearly drained its tanker dry on the last run, they probably would have to start stealing from cars before they were finished taking what they needed. Sure enough, they only just managed to fill the Jeep before the underground tanker in the gas station had nothing left to give. They hauled out a can of white spray paint and started marking up the cars that were empty with big white X's. They'd gone through two cars and were just about to start on a third when Judith whipped her head forward towards the nearest corner.

"Carl!" she yelled. She snagged Luna by the wrist and pulled her down behind the truck they were siphoning off of when she saw a trio of black SUVs come around the bend.

"Stay down!" Carl hissed to his sister from a few car lengths away. They were across the street from the Jeep where they'd left it in the gas station parking lot, and with a sinking feeling in her stomach, Luna watched as the SUVs encircled the vehicle, blocking their access to the Jeep. To make matters worse, biters had been attracted by the sound of the engine, a small pack of them stumbling along from two streets up, cutting off their escape in the opposite direction, and at their back were a string of small shops and other buildings, God knows what inside them.

A set of men dressed similarly to the one they'd found in the pharmacy piled out of the SUVs, all of them holding what appeared to be assault rifles. Luna watched the movement of their feet from the pavement where she and Judith were crouched. When the men began to fan out, approaching the nearby vehicles, she reacted instinctively, grabbing Judith by the wrist and pulling her down to the ground, forcing both of them underneath the truck, holding their breath, hoping to stay undetected. She saw Carl had done the same, his hands working slowly but surely to loosen his rifle so he could have easy access to it if necessary.

"Affirmative, we've got a Jeep, supplies in the back, engine's still warm, they're in the vicinity."

"Find them. They could have subjects we need." Judith could tell by the sound this voice was coming from a radio, which she signed to Luna.

"They're looking for people?" Luna asked, her fingers moving rapidly.

"Yes," Judith affirmed. They became very still again when they saw the shoes beginning to disperse, but they were slowly but surely heading closer to their hiding place. Carl signaled to his sisters to get their weapons ready, and Luna pulled out her second dagger, both hands full of her knives. Judith started to slide her machete free, but in doing so, her shotgun scraped the concrete with a loud, grating sound.

Everything froze and imploded all at once. Boots began running towards them and Luna began slashing at the incoming pair out from under the car as hard as she could. A shrill cry sounded that vibrated around her eardrums as a muffled whine as her blade bit through the rubber of the man's shoe and sliced into his ankle. Luna was about to roll free and slide loose of her confinement when Judith screamed.

Two hands had a hold of her ankles and were dragging her by force out from under the truck. Luna let out a deep throated snarl of rage that someone dare put a hand on her sister. A violent, overwhelming instinct to protect her own roared through her and burned through all traces of her fear. She stabbed again with her dagger and gave herself room enough to maneuver and rolled out from under the car.

"Let her go!" Carl yelled as Judith was hauled by the hair and back of the neck by two men, her machete having been wrenched or kicked free of her hand. Carl had his rifle aimed and now Luna stashed one knife smoothly in her holster and yanked her handgun free and aimed it at a second pair of men who were pointing their rifles at her as Carl covered the two that had hold of Judith.

"How old are you?" one of the men asked, this question directed at Luna. She narrowed her eyes and gritted her teeth, brandishing her gun. She could have answered if she chose to, but she was in no mood to cooperate like this.

"Biters!" Judith howled from where she was being held hostage against the men.

The men panicked at her warning, dropping her and whirling around just as one of them was taken over by a Walker. His scream echoed tenors of breaking glass as teeth sank deep into the meat of his upper arm. The other managed to lunge away from the initial bite but in doing so his forward momentum was too much for his balance and he tripped over his comrade. As he did so and tried to scramble up, another biter lunged and scratched its bloody nails down his face and neck, getting its teeth into the side of the man's face, tearing off a huge chunk of meat, causing red blood to gush like a river from the wound.

"Engage!"

"Judith, Luna!" Carl yelled over the din of gunfire as the rest of the men lined up and began to slaughter the incoming Walkers like a firing squad. The three of them ran for their lives towards the Jeep and had almost managed to pile in when half of the ones dealing with the biters whirled on them and aimed their guns straight at their hearts.

"Drop your weapons! Now!"

Carl glanced at both girls and they both could see what was in his eyes. Luna's blood burned with the knowledge, crackling electric energy snapping over her skin and through her hands. With barely another passing heartbeat Carl lunged and whipped his rifle forward and squeezed the trigger as Luna did the same with her pistol and Judith with her shotgun. The blasts roared through the once quiet street and blood began to flow freely. They all ducked and tried to drop back behind the Jeep for cover but then Carl was struck in the shoulder and the thigh by two well placed shots. When he collapsed the men lunged forward and everyone went down in tangle of limbs, hair, clothes, and guns.

"Get the girls!" came the sharp order hollered over the din of gunfire and bloodcurdling screams.

Judith screeched and struggled, her sounds much higher pitched compared to Luna's guttural cries, her voice out of practice and unaccustomed to being used so much. The deaf girl kicked out wildly, her limbs flailing every which way, her fingers curling into claws, viciously scratching at someone's face, bloody lines appearing in the wake of her movements. Her teeth bared and when an arm came over her face as a body was pushed into hers, reaching for the free hand she had twisted up behind her back, she sank her teeth in just like a biter, worrying her head back and forth. A pained howl erupted right in her ear, rattling her and someone snatched her by the hair and yanked her hard, simultaneously pulling her back while someone else twisted her shoulders, shoving her belly to the asphalt. Before long both Judith and her arms were twisted up behind their back bound in some kind of sharp plastic ties and they were hauled towards one of the SUV.

"What about him?" one of the men asked as he kicked Carl who was lying on the ground, struggling to get up because of the amount of blood gushing free of his leg and shoulder. The other men shoved the kicking, screaming girls into the back seat of the SUV, fighting tooth and nail to hold them down.

"He's too old. Leave him. Let's get these two out. We met our quota."

The SUV doors slammed shut, drowning out Judith and Luna's cries. Carl shoved himself up to his feet as the SUVs engines began to crank up. He snatched up Judith's shotgun that had fallen to the ground and peppered their tailgates, aiming for their tires, and though some of his shots hit the kickback of the gun against his bleeding shoulder caused him so much pain he could barely see. Blood was still spilling out of his leg and now there was a herd of biters coming up from the north end of the street. The SUVs were headed south. Carl cut several strips of his shirt off and tied one around his thigh to stem the bleeding and then the other around his shoulder. He was lucky it was the right, although with every movement he could feel the lead slug digging further and twisting in ways that were probably really bad, but that was inconsequential. He had to get Judith and Luna back.

He threw his weapons into the Jeep and gunned the engine hard, slamming the gas pedal to the floor. The tires squealed and screamed, smoking and spinning wildly before finally grabbing pavement, the engine protesting at the rough treatment before shooting forward. He corrected the potential fishtail as he whipped up the street and shifted gears again, picking up more speed, running down the SUVs just ahead of him. He didn't know which one Judith and Luna were in, but all he knew was he had to stop them, stop them all, and then blow their brains out for daring to lay a hand on his family without so much as a warning or provocation. Flashbacks of almost twenty years ago struck him in the chest, another friend, another person he was supposed to watch over and keep safe, ripped free of his grasp, and a funeral for the hollowed out shell that remained. His knuckles went white as his throat tightened with rage, refusing to be defeated again.

He reached over to the front seat and smacked the latch for the glove box. It fell open, some of his contents spilling out onto the floorboards, but not what he was searching for, a forty-five caliber handgun. He snatched it and flipped the safety off, jerking the wheel and gunning the Jeep hard, shifting the gears as the engine heaved and shuddered with the stress Carl was putting it under, but he just kept his foot on the accelerator. He hit the button to roll the windows down and immediately wind began to tear at him and blow his hair every which way but he took aim out of the passenger side window, holding onto the steering wheel with one hand and squeezing the trigger with the other.

The glass on the SUV he was following shattered, the driver jerking wildly, apparently not fatally wounded but Carl could hear a cry of pain and see blood spattering on his face.

"Stop you bastards!" he yelled, raising his pistol to fire again. This time he killed speed and aimed for the back tires, popping off as many shots as he could before he had to correct the Jeep or risk flipping over a curb as they whipped around a narrow turn.

After they cleared the turn he began taking fire as one of the other SUVs in the convoy rolled down its windows and a rifle appeared out of the glass and began shooting back at him. Carl swerved hard, trying to avoid the bullets, which chipped the edge of his windshield, causing the glass to begin to spider-web dangerously. He jerked the wheel and raised his pistol again, aiming to take out the one shooting at him, but just then the road curved violently and though he scrambled hard for the wheel to change directions, it wasn't enough. He had just enough time to jerk the wheel and feel an explosion of fear burst through his chest right before the Jeep slammed straight into a light pole and he went flying clear over the steering wheel, across the dash, through the windshield, rolling across the glass strewn hood before falling to the ground in a pile of limbs and blood.

There was a deep pain right below his neck and just from the sharp shooting sensation Carl was certain he'd broken his collarbone. He flexed his toes and was relieved to find they could still move, so his spine and neck were in tact, although he could barely breathe from having the wind knocked out of him. He staggered to his hands and knees but his wrist and elbow gave out and he slumped forward, his cheek scraping asphalt hard. He spat out a mouthful of blood and probably a piece of his tongue too that he'd accidently bitten off and forced himself up again, this time leaning most of his weight on his good side. His head was reeling, like his skull was a spinning top and someone had just taken it and spun it as hard as they could, and now he was so dizzy that the world tilted violently on its axis. He forced his feet underneath him and tried to push himself upright, scrambling against the light pole and smashed front end of the Jeep to hold himself upright. His stomach bowed in on itself and he retched hard, breakfast coming up and spattering onto the blood and glass speckled pavement as he wheezed for breath, his head continuing to roll around on his neck. He wiped his mouth on the back of his hand and leaned both his arms on the dash, his body aching but as he held still his head struggled to make sense out of the world.

"Judith, Luna," he panted, trying to force his mind to stay free of a foggy haze that was starting to descend on him. "Judith…Luna…gotta get back to camp…gotta find them…"

He was in no condition to drive, but he had no choice. His father had taught him how to hot wire a car just in case he should ever find himself stranded and that proved to be invaluable now as the Jeep was totaled and absolutely unfit to drive. He found a nearby truck and staggered towards it drunkenly, his feet barely coordinated enough to walk. It took four or five tries to get the car's engine going, his fingers thick and clumsy as he fought through the confusion and disorientation from the crash.

The biters were coming up the street by the time he got the truck's engine going. He hauled the most important supplies out of the Jeep, stuffed the supplies into the tail bed of the truck, and climbed into the driver's seat. Walker hands began to slam the windows of the car as he put his foot to the accelerator and finally started rolling, bypassing the wreckage of the Jeep. Over and over he told himself what he had to do, it was the only thing he could hold onto to fight off unconsciousness as he drove. He was shaking and sweating, blood still leaking from his wounds as he kept going. Flashes from his past came to greet him, monster's yawning gapes roaring forward to devour him whole as he struggled to remind himself of who he was and what had happened. He drove mostly on instinct and muscle memory, some baser part of him remembering where to turn and how to navigate the complex and very narrow trails that took him back to camp. By the time he pulled in his strength was all but gone, but he sensed that he was so close to help that it gave him one last burst of strength. He piled out of the truck, barely shutting the door before running across the open yard and up the porch steps to Glenn and Maggie's house knowing that was where the group would be. He shoved the door open, not surprised to see Fox and Daryl staring at him with wide, concerned eyes, but it was his father's gaze he sought first.

"They're gone!"

It was all he could say before he collapsed into a pool of his own blood at his family's feet.


	4. Chapter 4

_**Well ladies and gentlemen, wonderful readers and reviewers, here we go again! And as a little tidbit, here in this Chapter I'm bringing in a character that was a closet favorite of mine from the show. Enjoy! **_

**FanFicGirl10**: _See i knew it!. Ugh if i could go into your story and beat some sense into Luna i would! Seriously thay is why one listens to their parents, especially when the parents are Daryl and Fox Dixon! I hope the girls are safe and the others find them soon. I'm expecting to see a familiar redneck with a missing hand soon *wink wink* Cliffhanger, Update Soon!_

Aye, you'd think she'd know better, but Luna lacks the benefit of knowing what the outside world is like and how dangerous it is. She grew up with her parents stories and in a way is somewhat…de-sensitized I guess would be the best word. She thinks she knows what the outside world is like, but she has obviously been proven very, very wrong. And as for Merle, well, we will be seeing our favorite one handed redneck again, but in what context is a whole other ball game ;)

**arrowsandkittens**: _I don't have the words to describe how awesome this chapter is! Pure epicness. I'm so worried for J and Luna. And Daryl and Fox! I swear if one of the four dies ... And as to the Daryl/ Fox pairing, I'll go with Dalia. Can you even have an otp with an oc?_

This is the Walking Dead after all, nobody's ever really safe xD. Awww, my muse is all twittery with warm fuzzies right now. Of course you can have an OTP with an OC, this is the world of creative writing, you can have anything you want (at least in my book) and the fact you've graced my OC with such a status is awesome =D Oh my word, my pairings have a ship name. That's just even cooler.

**WinterIsComing01**: _Oh, gosh. Wow. Well, I'm glad that Carl will be okay for now. Who took the girls and where?! What in the devil?! So one thing I am curious about, and maybe you can explore this in a future chapter, is how the world has changed within the last 17 years. How are ghost towns still able to provide supplies? Wouldn't everything be super expired since no one is manufacturing anything anymore (I presume)? Even home products, not just food, have shelf lives. Also are there MORE walkers or LESS walkers 20 years into the future? I'm just curious as to how they are able to still find supplies and how many walkers are still on the earth. I would think that in a ghost town with a sign that's been ripped away, so they don't even know where they are, would be completely empty of anything useful anymore. Are there towns that have been able to make things? Are there any communities who started up the factory machines, etc, to make products? Very curious as to what the new world is like, and what happened to the girls..._

You bring up a really good point about the supply issue. My reasoning is (and I don't really know the logistics of it, having obviously not lived in a post apocalyptic world) why there would still be supplies left after all this time is because the plague hit so quickly and with such force, there was a lot left once the initial wave of infection was over, and since I think 95% of the population was wiped out, in the grand scheme of things, there's not a lot of people left to take it, plus, small isolated mountain towns like that are a gold mine for abandoned supplies, they're hard to get to, virtually every citizen probably would have caught the plague, and plus the group has had to switch where they raid their supplies from, going further and further from home base as it were as they clear out areas over the years. As for shelf-lives…didn't think about that one too hard, oops, but I have found things can last after the labeling says otherwise, although they may not work as well. And these are the things survivors in a real post apocalyptic world would find out by trial and error (writes down in survival journal for future reference.) As to the Walkers…I would think there is probably the same, because after the initial outbreak isolated places like this probably don't have many people coming through, to either kill Walkers, or to become them, but that's just a guess. As for Luna and J's fate…you shall see soon my friend, very soon.

**Brittney**: _Wow! That was by far the most intense chapter yet! I am curious to what the people in the SUVs want and if they're working with anyone we know of and how Luna will cope with it all away from her family_

Mm, they targeted Luna and J specifically and you'll find out eventually the reason, it is all part of my master plot *evil laughter*. As far as Luna's coping…that's an interesting dynamic to play around with, she's never been separated from her family, and so I can imagine it would be quite the rough transition. But she's a Dixon, she won't go down without a fight, that's for damn sure…

**CobaltCobain**: _WOW. I know I'm a new reviewer, but I didn't want to miss the opportunity to review on your FANTASTIC story. I've read Wildflower last week and was so caught up by it, it's such an amazing AU story, probably one of the best there is out there EVER. But I don't want to talk about it now, I think Wildflower deserves to have it's very own review and I'll probably do it as soon as I have the time to sit back and relax again, sorry! Anyway. I just have to say this new story is looking pretty amazing. Although I was a bit in shock that you chose to jump 17 years into the future, it's been proven to be a great choice after all. I've always wondered what their lives would be, how they'd grow old, how they'd survive... and I'm pretty sure you'll do an amazing job picturing that for us. I LOVE Daryl, I love how overprotective he is of Luna and the special bond they have with each other. She's clearly daddy's little girl and I can't wait for him to go through heaven and hell looking for her. I'm really curious about Carl, though, having lived all his life with nobody from his own age to be with, given that their group remained the same over the years. I can't wait to see how he enters the 'society' again after so long. I have a feeling he was so lonely over the past years that looking for his sister and Luna would take a toll on him. Besides, what the hell are they going to encounter? I can't waitttt! Update soon enough, you are an amazing writer :)_

Awwww, I love it, I have another one from Wildflower jumping onto Wolfsong. Let me extend my thanks for both your reading and possibly eventual review for Wildflower, because even after all this time, it still means the world to me. Wildflower was by far my most involved story and that it means so much to so many other people just makes it that much more special. And Wolfsong…Wolfsong is a whole other ball of wax, because now there is all this crazy expectation, but its a wonderful challenge for me as a writer and I love to tackle it head-on and you guys just make it so worth it, so thank you for writing in =D As to the time-skip, in my head there was never a question of whether that was going to happen or not, I knew it would, the only thing I probably would have changed about Wildflower is that it was SO long sometimes in between the more action-y spells (or at least it felt that way to me) and I wanted more of a steady stream of stuff happening for Wolfsong. I too of course am curious about how the group will survive and change as they rebuild their lives long term after the wake of the ZA, and how I've set them up here is what /I/ would do personally if I'd survived a zombie apocalypse. It just makes the most sense to me. Ohh goodness gracious, Luna has Daryl wrapped around her pretty little finger, and she knows it too. She's her daddy's whole world, and its only natural he's so overprotective of her. After everything in his own childhood, plus the debacle of losing Sophia, there's no way in hell he's going to take her for granted, or allow anything to get in the way of keeping her safe. Playing around with that parental protective instinct has been awesome and I'm looking forward to continue to digging into it as the group heads off to find their kids. As for Carl…Carl is an interesting one too, especially given what's happened in the show lately. I do think that growing up without kids his own age would have affected him, would have made him more volatile and prone to be far less trusting, and socially awkward too, because he doesn't have a lot of the unspoken rules of communication between peers, so throwing him into the mix of what I've got planned for the group is awesome fuel for my muse. I love answering long reviews like this, it really does make my writer's heart sing =)

**Emberka-2012**: _Here the trouble started. Carl for the kidnappers was too old? This is not good news, very much it reminds me of those who tortured Fox. I hope with Luna and Judith everything okay. I imagine what parents will feel when they realize what trouble happened. I bet they will not be able to stop in the search for their children._

Mm, the whole age thing is part of the plot, it'll be revealed slowly as time goes on, just as the show does with us. And no, its definitely not good news, everybody thinks that the ones who took Luna and J are the same ones who took Fox, and they have good reason to suspect so, but they're still some work to do to prove it. No, the group will never stop looking for their kids, just as they wouldn't stop looking for any member of their group who was taken. That's their family, that's one of the only things they have left to fight for. If you're going to risk your life for something, it might as well be your family.

**KatlynIreneGlasse**: _Ah, you're so stupid stop making me freak out and go all, b-b-but, on my computer. My niece is the freaking cutest thing ever by the way. I hate how long it's been taking to review but I've been super busy helping my sister out with the baby. Anyhow you should make an OC for Carl, or Benjy I feel bad that there all alone you know. How old would Daryl and Dahlia be at this point? Cause in my head as soon as the people who kidnapped Luna Judith... Hey you call Judith J just like my brother (spaces out)...Huh what was I typing? ( looks back) Oh yeah as soon as they asked Luna's age I immediately thought of Merle or Jenner I don't know why... Oh well I'm slightly high off of Dr. Pepper, three bottles in a two hour times span is probably not good for you... I have to go and feed my niece while my sister naps so see you next time. Kitty Kat (I'm so retarded ugh)_

Haha, it's all good, I understand life and stuff happens and that's important too =) I am bringing in a lot of OCs for this story, but whether any of them will be for Carl, Benjy, or even Rick (he is a single man too ya know) is up for debate. I have a whole bag of crazy characters tucked away just for this story that I can't wait to pull out and present to you guys, I'm looking forward to it =D As to how old Daryl and Dahlia are, Daryl is 47, Dahlia is 36. Again, the sharp gap in age. It feels a little crazy, but like I said back in Wildflower, my own parents were 11 years apart too so I guess that's why it doesn't rattle me. Mmm, Merle and Jenner, both of those wily guys are still alive, and they'll be making an appearance, possibly sooner than you think ;) Good lord girl, slow down on the Dr. Pepper, you're gonna give yourself a heart attack xD

**Brittney**: _Me again, Im dying right now. Can you please write faster? I don't mean to rude but I LOVE Wolfsong :)_

I'm working, I'm working! Hear the amused and playful tone in my voice xD. I've got two jobs plus a house to hold together, AND I'm also working out now and since I just started it's kicking my ass in a big way. Its shameful. But anyway, I shall write as fast as I can my friend!

**RedneckBunny**: _What... The... Frack...?! Aaaaaaaaamazeballs._

That's what I love to hear =D

* * *

"Carl!" Rick's stressed cry cut through the ice cold silence that had descended on the room as he watched his son crumple to the floor.

Benjamin ran forward along with the rest of the family and immediately rolled Carl to his back, causing the man to groan with discomfort, his eyes still closed, limbs lolling loosely at his sides. His skin was pale and very cold, much colder than it ought to have been.

"Carl! Carl, open your eyes, look at me," Benjamin ordered, lightly smacking the man's cheek. His eyelids fluttered a bit but he couldn't get them open completely.

"Carl, what happened? Were you attacked, how did you get like this? You gotta tell me what happened otherwise I can't help you. Come on Carl, come on." Benjamin encouraged. "Get him up on the table, now! Keep talking to him, keep him conscious," the medic ordered as he left his side and ran out of the cabin back towards the house he shared with Rick and Carl to get his bag. Already his mind was cataloging everything that could have happened and he was dimly aware of the fact that the truck sitting outside in the yard wasn't one of their vehicles. He might have crashed the Jeep, but where were Luna and Judith?

He came racing back with his bag in hand and he found Carl already stretched out on the kitchen table, everything for dinner having been cleared off and set aside. Rick was at his son's side, his hand on his face and in his hair, squeezing his palms, encouraging his eyes to stay open while Daryl and Fox paced frantically. Maggie and Glenn stood by worriedly, eyes darting every which way.

"Carl, what happened?" Benjamin asked again as he used his stethoscope to listen for the man's heartbeat. It was steady but faster than it ought to have been. He yanked the tool free and lightly slapped his cheek again to get his eyes open.

"Come on Carl, you gotta tell us what happened."

"They came for us!" Carl howled miserably, beginning to thrash on the table, his limbs kicking wildly, stronger than any of them had anticipated. Immediately Daryl and Fox hurried into the fray and held him down as gently as they could, trying not to distress him further. "They came and took Judith and Luna!"

"How did you get like this?" Benjamin demanded, already digging in his bag for more tools.

"I…I…" The man trailed off, his head rolling from side to side on his neck, a low pained groan coming from his throat as he struggled to stay lucid.

"He was shot!" Daryl pointed out, huffing for breath as he held down one of Carl's legs and saw the bullet wound in his thigh.

"Up here too," Rick gritted out, now seeing the bullet wound in his son's right shoulder. He stared wildly at Benjamin with frantic eyes, silently begging him to do something.

"Carl, did you hit your head, what happened to get you like this?" Benjamin demanded, turning the man's chin in his hand and forcing their eyes to meet.

"Crashed…crashed the Jeep…couldn't stop them…I…" he trailed off again, his jaw going slack as he struggled for breath.

"He hit his head hard, its all gashed open on the top of his skull," Benjamin said, cataloging the damage as he picked through the shards of glass and crusting blood on top of Carl's head to see the wound.

"Was he bit? Was he scratched?" Rick asked, clear evidence of terror and pain written all over every single word.

Benjamin checked the man over as thoroughly as he could given the immediate set of circumstances. "No bites, these cuts are from broken glass, there's flecks of it everywhere."

"Carl, who took Judith and Luna?" Fox demanded, squeezing the man's knee hard to jolt him back up to speed, her eyes whipping forward to meet with Carl's hazy blue ones.

"I…I don't know…" he wheezed. He began to roll back and forth violently as though he were afraid of being held down but Benjamin nodded sharply and everyone converged to hold Carl down to the table.

"It's gonna be alright Carl, we'll handle everything. Just hold still alright." Benjamin tried to soothe him but he began to struggle even harder. "Carl, if you don't stop moving you're gonna hurt yourself even worse." Benjamin snapped his gaze up. "Glenn, get over here, hold his head still, don't let him move his neck. Maggie, in my bag at the bottom is a blue pouch, crack it open to get the coolant going, if he hit his head as hard as I think he did, I need to keep his brain from swelling."

Everyone hopped to, Glenn coming up behind Carl and using both hands to hold Carl's head still. Carl groaned softly but stopped struggling as hard and Daryl and Fox loosened their grip on his legs. Maggie dug through Benjamin's bag, spilling most of the contents out until she found a three chambered plastic wrapped device that as she massaged in her hands began to cool rapidly. Benjamin took the pack from her and laid it gently against Carl's forehead. "Rick, hold down on that, not too hard, but keep it contact," he urged.

Rick did as the medic asked while Benjamin gathered more supplies to start dealing with the rest of Carl's other wounds. "Someone took Judith and Luna? How many people were there Carl?" Rick asked. Benjamin began working Carl over, taking blood pressure, testing his reflexes and his pupillary responses. Carl tried to look for his father and squeezed his eyes shut and fluttered them open rapidly as he struggled to remember.

"A dozen, maybe more. They had black SUVs…they just showed up out of nowhere…just came and grabbed them…" He wheezed with pain as Benjamin began to rearrange his shoulder and peel away the hastily made bandage to asses the bullet wound.

"Ok, it's gonna be ok, how long were you out at the crash before you came back here?" Benjamin asked softly.

Carl's brow furrowed hard. "Not long…just a few minutes…I think…I…fuck! My head hurts!" he groaned.

"Ok, just relax," Benjamin soothed. "Carl, you hit your head pretty hard, you have a concussion but you're gonna be ok, just try and relax alright? We've got everything under control."

"They drove away with Judith and Luna!" he reiterated, almost thrashing on the table but Benjamin shoved him with more force than most of the group thought he was capable of to hold him down. The only time Benjamin had an assertive bone in his body was if there was a patient on the table, that was true eighteen years ago when the group had first met him, and it was one of the only things that had never changed.

When Carl relaxed under Benjamin's grip the medic eased up. "I know, just trust me, we'll handle it? You need to stay calm, if you start fighting this is going to hurt a lot worse than it has to, ok? Just relax," he ordered. "Now I'm gonna clean and dress your wounds and you think back and tell us what happened, ok? Just start from where you remember and go until you get here."

"Ok," Carl panted. Benjamin set to work on sterilizing an evil looking set of metal tools that he would use to extract the bullets still lodged in his flesh and now Daryl came over to the younger man's head so he could be eye to eye with him. Carl met the hunter's, confusion still blurring his eyes but as he started to speak he became clearer.

"Everything was fine at first, we were in the pharmacy getting supplies, and then we found the body of I guess it was a soldier, dressed in camouflage, had a bullet proof vest on and empty gun holsters. He hadn't been dead long, biters hadn't even come back yet. We left to finish the run, we were getting gas when these black SUVs came up and surrounded the Jeep. We ducked behind some cars but they found us and dragged us out from under. We put up a helluva fight…" He hissed sharply when Benjamin snagged his flesh and muscle as he pulled out the leg slug from his shoulder. When he was able to suck down another breath and continue speaking his tone was more strained.

"They threw Judith and Luna into the SUV and drove off with them. I followed in the Jeep and tried to stop them but they returned fire and I crashed the Jeep. Went through the windshield. They kept going and by the time I got up they were long gone." His eyes screwed up and he grunted hard when Benjamin dug the second slug out of his leg. When he exhaled, sweat was breaking out on his body as his hands clenched and unclenched at his sides.

"Did they say anything? Who they were, where they were going, why they took them?" Rick asked.

"Its obvious why!" Daryl snarled, looking up at his friend. "They took the girls and left him! I'm assuming it was men that did this, right?"

Carl nodded but Benjamin slapped his wrist. "Don't move your head," the medic warned.

"I don't think it was like that, Daryl," Carl panted as Benjamin set to work sterilizing the rest of his lacerations. "They said something about a quota…and that I was too old…they asked Luna how old she was. She didn't answer."

Fox's eyes were hard pieces of emerald slate as she looked up from Carl and back to Daryl. The scars on her face gleamed in the lantern lights that Benjamin had brought to the table so he could see what he was doing and when Rick looked across the table and met her gaze, there was a silent but palpable tension there.

"They took them," Fox growled. "They took our kids! The same people that took me! The same ones that killed Sophia and Andrea, the same ones that almost killed me! They took our kids!" Her voice had spiraled to a high pitched shout.

"Fox, we don't have proof we don't know…" Rick started but Fox all but leapt the table and got right up into his face.

"You know its them! You know it is! We have to go back to that God forsaken mountain and get them back! Do you think that they'll just forget what happened almost twenty years ago? Daryl killed that bastard Phillip, but there was still that psycho fucking doctor that just vanished and now it looks like he came back to finish what he started!" She was breathing like she'd just run a mile, her entire body shaking with barely suppressed rage.

"How the hell would they have been able to find us? How the hell would they have known Judith and Luna were our kids?" Rick demanded, his eyes getting just as hard. "There's no way they could have known! It may be the same people, but I seriously doubt its vendetta that caused this. We will go, and we will get them back, I promise! As soon as Carl's fit to travel, which should be when?" He rounded on Benjamin who was still bent over the patient, plucking glass out with his tweezers of the various cuts.

"I should have him bandaged up in an hour or so. He won't be fit to drive, but he can ride with us. He remembers details from before and after the crash, his reflexes are good, blood pressure's steady, his concussion was mild. Carl, how's the pain in your head? Getting worse or better?"

Carl's eyes fluttered open. "It doesn't hurt quite as much now. Although you could stop trying to dig an imaginary piece of glass out of my leg, thank you!" he huffed.

"Well if you'd hold still I wouldn't have to dig around so deep," Benjamin muttered as he extracted another fragment of glass. "I just want to stitch the wound in his head before I let him up."

Fox was barely pacified by this. "Daryl!" she yelled, already jogging out the door, throwing it open so hard that it cracked loudly on the side of the house, almost smacking Daryl in the face as she charged outside. Daryl caught up with her just as she made it inside their cabin, and he took the liberty of shutting the door before she could rip it off its hinges.

She proceeded to melt down in such a way that he'd never seen before. He'd seen her angry, pissed, so viciously enraged she could have killed someone…but he'd never seen her like this. She stormed about wildly, flinging any random object she could get her hands on, shattering it into the walls and doors and Daryl realized if he didn't do something she might rip the house down with her bare hands.

"Dahlia!"

She rounded on him, her bowie knife in her hand, her knuckles clenching so hard they were ice white. Her body was shaking and shivering, trembles of intense rage running through her. Her hair was askew, flung every which way. She looked like a mess, but the fire in her eyes was enough to burn away any sense of trying to humor her into calming down.

"What are you just standing there for? Move!" she screamed, slinging the dish in her second hand at him. He ducked sharply to avoid being cut in the face and it shattered behind him with an ear splitting sound that was a reflection of what was going on in her head.

"Dahlia, enough!" he yelled. He got up to his feet and grabbed her wrists in both his hands, restraining her as she all but kicked and screamed like a banshee, howling with rage and fear. "We're never gonna get them back like this!"

She screamed wordlessly into his chest, her entire body shaking like she was in the midst of a hurricane. Somewhere in her broken cries was their daughter's name and Daryl too felt that terrible sense of drowning. The water, cold and black and unforgiving, was rising around him, flooding in his lungs, making it so hard to breathe, to see, to think of anything else but the fact that his baby girl was trapped somewhere in the hands of men who would only do God knows what to her. The thought was so horrifying it was as if his brain had gone on locked down and he refused to picture it because it would break him as it was breaking Fox.

"She's gone!" Fox howled, tears streaming down her face in hot, fast rivulets. "She's gone, they took her away!"

She tried to shove Daryl away but he held on for everything he was worth. She was strong, almost as strong as him, and if she'd really been trying to escape he wasn't sure he would have been able to hold her down, but that wasn't the case. She just needed to let the rage and fear explode until she was clear enough in the head that she could think, and he let her. His chest was bruised and clawed to bits by the time she was done, but when she was, she shuddered against him, so upset she could barely breathe.

"Dahlia, breathe, it's going to be ok, we're gonna get her back. We rescued you and we're gonna rescue them, I promise." He pulled her tight against him, afraid to let her go because if he did he wasn't sure that either of them would be able to stand up on their own. It wasn't just Fox that was shaking. He could feel it in himself, but while hers was with anger, he acknowledged that he was filled with terrible dread and fear. His stomach was writhing as though his belly were filled with snakes, twisting and curling at the thought of what might be happening to Luna. He knew what men were capable of, he knew the kind of things that they might do to her. It was enough to make his stomach curl in on itself and his blood crystalize with ice and burn with fire all at the same time. His head was spinning even as he held onto Fox for everything he was worth. How could this have happened? Now, why now, when it was just a simple supply run…his brain couldn't make that leap that the one time that he'd let Luna out of his sight something had happened to her, something so bad that her life might be in danger. And not just her, but Judith too. He'd raised that girl just as much as Rick had, and that she had been taken too was just another layer on this situation that was like a barb right in his throat. He struggled to breathe properly and Fox felt him start to shake violently.

It was then she realized that he needed her. That she had to hold it together because there might not be enough of him to go around to worry about her and about Luna too. She had to help him. She had to help see him through this, somehow, even though she felt like the world was wobbling on its axis like a drunk trying to do a field sobriety test. The rage and the fear for Luna that was pounding through her was making it almost impossible to see straight, but the shaking she felt in Daryl's frame helped to bring her back down to some semblance of reality. She knew more than anybody else how much Luna meant to Daryl. His world revolved around her; in her rested the glued together pieces from his broken childhood. In her he'd had the chance to fix everything that was wrong in his life, and find everything he had ever been missing. In her, he had someone who had loved and trusted him unconditionally. It had never been earned, and it could never be taken away from him, and she knew the thought that he might lose her, that he might fail her, could be the one thing that could crack him and send him over that dark edge from which he might not ever return. She couldn't let that happen. She had to hold him together, for as long as she could, for as long as she had to, until they found Luna. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and tugged him sharply against her. She'd been in bed with him all day, felt his naked skin against her own, felt the heat of his touch and the power of his muscles against her, but standing here she felt his vulnerability, the threat of him shattering. She squeezed him in a tight embrace, as if she could physically hold him together, and damn if she wouldn't try.

"You're right," Fox murmured against him. "We're gonna get them back. We know where she'll be. We'll find both of them."

Daryl returned her embrace for a long while before letting her slide out of his arms. It took him a second to get his brain in gear but as soon as everything locked into place, it was like stretching a muscle after a long night's sleep. Warm blood rushed through him and a part of himself he hadn't felt in a long time woke and gaped a mouth full of vicious, vengeful teeth and stretched lithe, powerful muscles in preparation for a fight. He hadn't felt like this for years, not since the days of living on the road and on the run, surviving on nothing but Rick's leadership, the group's many eyes to keep watch, and his ability to hunt for dinner. It was a raw, powerful feeling, and although he detested the circumstances under which it had arisen, he was grateful he could still feel like this. That he knew instinctively he was still capable of doing what was necessary in a world that would rip them to pieces if given just the smallest chance.

"Haven't been on the road in a long time," Fox said as they began moving around their cabin, packing up supplies in their travel bags. "It will be kind of nice to be on the bike again."

Daryl's mouth twitched. "Luna's been wanting to go for a ride for a while now. Think you could concede having her ride with me after this is over?" It wasn't what was really on his mind of course, but had he said what he was really thinking about, he wasn't sure either of them could handle it.

Fox didn't answer at first. She moved silently into Luna's room and ran her hands over all the pieces of clothing hanging on their pegs in the corner, pressing it to her face as she struggled to hold back her tears. Daryl came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her tightly, holding her together before she could shatter. This close to Luna's clothes he could smell remnants of her scent, something akin to honeysuckles and rain and he felt himself start to shake all over again. Still his brain refused to acknowledge the possibly that he might lose her. He couldn't, because if he did, he wasn't sure the thought wouldn't break him entirely. He felt Fox trembling against him, letting out a soft sob. For Fox, becoming a mother had completely altered her outlook on life. Her priorities, her wants, her needs even had all been different before Luna had come into the picture. Before Luna she had been just shy of spiteful and almost looking to pick a fight, but after her daughter had been born, she'd begun to see the world as an opportunity to learn how to be with it, rather than so closed off from it. Particularly because of Luna's deafness, Fox had been almost forced to see the world in a different way to try an understand her daughter, and in doing so, had become less abrasive and more open to different perspectives.

"We'll get her back," Daryl murmured into her hair as he tugged her away from the room. "We will." He had to say it, because he was right on that edge where if he didn't, he'd surrender to the despair.

When they had their bags packed and Daryl had the keys to the bike in his free hand he beckoned Fox to follow him. They instinctively went to Rick's house and found that everybody else was gathering there too. Fox set their belongings down next to the rest of the group's and then turned to Daryl.

"Go talk to Rick," she urged. "He needs you."

Daryl tipped his head to the side slightly. "You gonna be ok?" he asked.

She took a long, shuddering breath in. "Yeah. I'll be ok," she rubbed her hands over her arms for a second but then nodded towards the back hallway of the cabin. "Go on," she said.

He nodded and left her standing with Maggie and Glenn who were coming up to start organizing what supplies they were bringing with them. Daryl padded softly through the cabin until he found Rick in the room that Judith and Carl shared. The former sheriff turned when he heard Daryl's footsteps and at first his hand fell on the python strapped to his leg, which made Daryl pause at the door.

"Sorry," Rick muttered, taking his hand off the gun.

Daryl shook his head. "It's fine," he said. He wished like hell he knew what to say. After all this time, all these years with the man, with the group, when shit hit the fan, he still fumbled for his words. He still didn't know what to say to pull the man together, but damn if he wasn't going to try.

"Fox thinks it's the same group. I think it is too. They won't get away with this," Daryl promised, coming up to stand next to Rick who was hovering over Judith's unmade bed.

"But why? Why now? After all this time? They couldn't possibly have known they were our kids. Fox didn't say anything about Judith when she was held by them, and she didn't even know she was pregnant until after we rescued her. So how…"

"That's not true," Daryl mumbled. "She knew. That jackass doctor…what's his name…Jenner. Jenner told her. That's how she found out."

Rick's brow furrowed heavily. "Then why…why would she antagonize them the way she did? If she knew…"

Daryl rolled his shoulders. "It's how she is, you know that. But I don't think this has anything to do with now. Even though Jenner knew about Luna, he couldn't have known her or Judith were ours."

Rick nodded. "I wanna go to the scene of the crash first. They might still be in the area. If they're not there, then we'll go for Colorado. Carl said they drove off and he didn't say anything about a helicopter, so there's a good chance that they're nearby. Especially if the girls put up a fight and injured them."

Daryl nodded. "You know they did. This is Luna and Judith we're talking about here."

Rick clapped him on the shoulder and squeezed firmly with a nod, and despite the physical reassurance, Daryl could see the stress and anxiety and the way it was ripping across his face, giving him a haggard look that made him look far older than he really was. Daryl put a hand on his shoulder too forced their eyes to lock.

"We'll get them back." It was all he could say, but it must have been enough, because when Rick pulled back, it was as though he were shrugging into a coat that didn't quite fit anymore, but it would loosen up in time. The coat of being a fearless, maybe even ruthless leader, the one who got things done, made the hard calls, and kept their family safe. He hadn't had to wear it in so long and Daryl could see him struggling, but it would only be a matter of time until he settled in again.

They stepped out into the front room where the rest of the group was gathered, including Carl who was on his feet although he still looked like hell, fresh stitches covered in gauze and medical tape. His eyes snapped up immediately to his father and Daryl could see Rick searching for the words, but when he found them, it was almost as if he'd never lost them.

"This isn't a question of do we get them back, do we chase them until the ends of the earth. Of course we do. We'll go as far and for as long as we have to. These are our family members, our kids, and we won't let this go unanswered. First I want to scope the area around the town where they were taken, they could still be there. If not, we'll go for Colorado, back to the base that we rescued Fox from. We'll keep hunting, we'll keep searching, we will not stop until we find them. We'll have to be careful. Everybody stay on your toes, keep your guns close, nobody goes off alone. We don't know why Judith and Luna were taken, and honestly, it doesn't even matter. Just watch your back, and watch everyone else's. We can do this."

Glenn nodded firmly. "The vehicles are packed up and ready to go."

"How are we doing on food and water and gas?" Rick asked, posing this question to Carl but it was Maggie who answered.

"Everybody's got a full tank except for the truck that Carl brought. We've packed enough food for at least a week, less water, we'll have to keep an eye out for fresh sources on the road the way we used to." Her hand was wound tightly with Glenn's and Rick nodded in acknowledgement.

"I packed up everything I've got as far as medical supplies. It'll weigh us down but there's no telling if we'll need it or not," Benjamin supplied.

"No it's good, I'd rather have it than be stranded without it. If everybody's packed up, let's move out, Daryl you lead with the bike. Let's go."

Everybody fanned out, going for their vehicles which were typically parked by the sides of their house. Rick went for the truck that Carl had hot wired and climbed into the driver's seat and sparked the engine to life again as his son took his seat beside him.

"Dad I'm sorry…" he choked out as they began the almost perilous drive down the mountain back to the highway. It was slow going, especially with Daryl's bike, which was part of the reason why they only went on supply runs once a month. The less risk to the suspensions and tires and people in the vehicles, the better.

"Carl, don't. This was not your fault. You couldn't have done anything to stop it. You were ambushed and outnumbered." Rick's voice was firm and unyielding.

"I was supposed to keep them safe and I failed…" He trailed off miserably, his head hanging down sadly.

"Carl!" Rick barked, forcing his son's eyes to meet his. "This wasn't you're fault. You did everything you could. I'm just glad you came back alive." He let go of the steering wheel and clenched his son's arm, minding where he had been stitched up. Carl looked up at his father and nodded and then turned his face forward, determination and unrelenting drive flaming in his eyes.

* * *

There was darkness pressed everywhere. Everywhere was dark. Robbed of her sight and never having her hearing, Luna felt suffocated. As soon as her brain stuttered into consciousness, she thrashed wildly, snarling and growling like a wild animal, determined to escape the confines of her prison. She yowled wordlessly full of angry indignation and rage, bucking against the bonds she felt tied around her wrists. Her weapons were gone but when she rolled she felt her knife's handle dig into her ribs. Good. That was good. She still had something on her. Her heart beat wildly in her chest as she struggled to right herself and try to determine where she was and what had happened and if she was still with Judith or if they had been separated. When she could not recover her eyesight panic began to well up in her throat with a bitter taste and she renewed her efforts, thrashing so hard that she did eventually connect one of her limbs with something that gave a response, a grunt of pain and a shaking that Luna felt vibrate up through her arm. Her arms were tied behind her back so Luna shifted and wiggled until she could get her hands out from underneath her weight and then let her fingers close on a limb. She yanked and scrabbled and clawed until she jerked what felt like a sleeve out of her way and exposed bare skin.

"J?" she signed, struggling to write into the person's skin with her hands tied up as they were.

When shaking fingers found her hand and squeezed down, a blaze of relief roared through Luna, so potent it literally felt like sunshine on her face and a massive weight lifted off her shoulders. Judith was still with her. She was not alone. She almost sobbed as she squeezed Judith's arm in her hands as though she were clutching a life raft.

"Are you hurt?" Judith signed into Luna's arm, awkwardly moving her fingers, slipping and shaking as she did so.

Luna took a mental assessment of herself. Her shoulders were sore from her arms being tied behind her and she was voraciously hungry but she didn't feel hurt. She signed this to Judith who agreed. Instead of asking what was happening or where they were, Luna let her fingers curl and twist over Judith's arm, squeezing probably to the point of pain, but she couldn't let go. She was terrified to let go, to let go and to acknowledge what had really happened.

They were no longer in the back of the SUV that was for sure, the bounce and feeling of vibration from the moving vehicle was gone. Wherever they were, it was cold but the air smelt stale and almost frozen, so Luna reasoned they were inside somewhere. Judith suddenly tensed in her grip and Luna realized something was happening she couldn't hear. Her heart hammered in her chest, moving faster than it might have ever in her entire life but then she gasped a breath and smelt a different scent. This one smelt of soap and chemicals, very different from Judith's crushed pine and cotton left to warm in the sun. Luna flinched and growled in her throat, struggling to push herself and Judith away.

"Easy girls, you've been out for quite a while. I'm not here to hurt you, I just want to check you out, make sure you're alright."

Judith grabbed Luna's arm and signed this into her skin, knowing that what the soft-spoken man had said wouldn't have been detected by Luna. When Luna finished translating Judith's message she stilled.

"Ok, easy does it," the man coaxed softly. Luna got a nose-full of that same scent as the man pressed close to her and she stiffened again, wanting to lash out, but it was gone in a moment. He apparently had reached behind her and pulled on the knot at the back of her head that was keeping her blinder on. When it came off, he pulled back and she thrashed away from him, panting sharply.

The room they were in was dim which Luna counted as fortunate because otherwise it would have been painful. She and Judith were tied up on the floor, affixed to twin metal cots that were bolted into the floor. She pressed her arm into Judith's in reassurance before her eyes narrowed in on the man with them.

He wasn't physically intimidating, made of soft flesh and smooth pale skin with well-kept glasses resting on the bridge of his nose, neatly combined brown hair pressed down towards his skull. His clothes smelled of soap and were well taken care of, and a quick glance at his hands showed no scars or callouses, so whatever he did in his day to day life didn't consist of hard labor or hurting people, most likely. The way he moved reminded her of Benjamin a bit, full of hesitation and slight nervousness. He reached forward cautiously untied the piece of cloth over Judith's eyes and then stepped back out of their reach.

"There, that's better isn't it?" he asked softly.

Judith blinked for a moment, readjusting to the light and the surroundings before meeting Luna's eyes. There was a silent, determined communication between them before Judith turned up to the man in front of them.  
"Who the hell are you, why are we here?" she demanded. Luna focused on reading Judith's lips until she was done speaking before turning to watch the man answer.

"My name is Milton Mamet, although that probably means nothing to you. As to why you're here…I'm not really at liberty to answer that," he said, shifting his gaze between Judith and Luna. Luna locked eyes with him and realized he was making some snap assumptions about the two of them. He had that look in his eyes, the one that said he was working things out in his mind, information he would use against them later. She gritted her teeth and shifted her feet so they were flat on the floor underneath her.

"Listen, Milton, whoever the hell you are, you need to let us out of here. You really do not want to make the mistake of holding us against our will. It won't end well for you, or anybody else involved. I'd say trust me but that's kind of pointless," Judith affirmed quietly and Luna snickered in agreement.

Milton shrugged his shoulders. "Well unfortunately I can't do that ladies. I have my orders and I'm sorry if it offends you, but I'm a lot more concerned about what my boss says than what you two say. I do have some questions for you though that if you answered would make all our lives a lot easier." Luna saw him pull a small little notebook and a pen and she nudged Judith's ankle to get her attention.

"Do we answer?" she asked, writing the signs into Judith's arm.

"What is she doing?" Milton asked before Judith could respond. Luna caught the movements of the man's lips out of the corner of her eye and realized what he was asking. She met Judith's gaze with a slow nod.

Judith turned back to Milton. "She's deaf. It's sign language. Which incidentally is really hard to do when you're tied up." She panted with aggravation as she tugged on her bonds. "Can you please at least take these off, we won't hurt you. We don't have any weapons on us."

Luna inwardly twitched. She did still have her knife on her, and once her hands were free, she could send this scrap of soft flesh and bone to hell in about ten seconds. Judith however seemed unaware of this fact, and Luna kept herself as passive as she could for the time being. There were distinct advantages to being an ambush predator.

Milton tilted his head, considering it. "Very well," he said. He approached slowly and Luna leaned forward so he'd have access to her wrists. He used a box cutter to slice the plastic open and thus free her arms. Before she could even twitch, Judith had grabbed her wrist. 'Don't' was the clear message in her eyes. Judith knew Luna well enough to know that under stress like this she was much more liable to strike first and ask questions later, but if she incapacitated or even killed Milton, they'd be at square one with a dead body in the room and that would look really bad whenever someone else came to deal with them. Her head was hurting from all of the information she was trying to soak in but if she didn't hold everything together, things were going to go from bad to nuclear meltdown in less than five seconds.

Milton cut Judith free and when they were both loose he stepped back and they stood up and stretched their sore shoulders. When they had loosened a bit Luna eyeballed the door, sizing it up and trying to decide how much effort it would take to break it down if necessary.

"Back to the questions," Milton said, redirecting Luna's attention when she saw him speaking out of the corner of her eye. She turned and faced him and fixed him with an expression like a rattlesnake sizing up a mouse creeping near its hiding place. She was pleased when she saw the micro expression of fear slip over his features.

"What are your names?" he asked.

Judith chewed it over. The possibility that these were the same people her family had encountered when she was an infant and before Luna was born had dawned on her almost immediately after they'd been taken, and so telling them who they were could cause backlash, but it might also help them. Milton didn't seem inherently dangerous, and if they could get on his good side, he might help them, or put them in a better position to help themselves.

"I'm Judith Grimes," she answered finally. "This is…"

"Luna Carol-Cherie Dixon." Luna answered for herself, her voice growling and raspy but nonetheless able to be understood.

"She can speak." The excitement in Milton's voice was soft but still present. "How is that possible?"

Luna wrinkled her brow. "I'm deaf, not stupid," she grated these words between her teeth slowly. Her expression turned wicked and another flicker of fear passed over Milton's face. "And I learn fast," she finished.

Milton turned to Judith for some kind of explanation. "She's deaf but not entirely. Our family taught her how to speak."

"I see," the man murmured, scribbling something in his book. "How old are the two of you?"

Judith remembered the men who had taken them asking the same question. Their age was a factor in this, it was important for some reason.

"I'm eighteen, Luna is…" Judith trailed off when Luna signed for herself.

"Seventeen?" Milton guessed. Luna nodded and clicked her teeth together in an expression of teasing humor. She knew she was freaking Milton out and it was amusing to her. Judith stopped herself from rolling her eyes just in time. Luna liked playing games and running round-a-bouts, it was a trait she'd inherited from her mother much to the rest of the group's aggravation.

"Perfect. And if I may ask, how is it that you survived for this long, being deaf. I'm assuming you can read lips, how else would you understand everything that's just been said." He addressed Luna, fixing her with a glinted gaze from behind his glasses.

"My family watches over me." Luna swallowed and twitched her jaw uncomfortably, not used to speaking this much at any one given time. With her family if she got tired of speaking she could sign and they would understand. "They keep me safe." She tilted her head at Milton and bared her teeth. "And I can read a lot more than lips."

Milton stepped a pace or two away, his gaze flitting between the two girls. "Are you related?" he asked, trying to keep the nervousness out of his voice. They were similar in appearance, possibly close enough to be sisters, which if they were would prove to be an even better opportunity for his and the doctor's research.

"We're not blood related, no." Judith answered. "But we grew up together. With the other members of our family."

"You mean your group?" Milton questioned as he scribbled in his little book.

"No. Family," Luna growled. She took a threatening step towards the man who shrank back. "Let us go!" She was starting to reach for him and Judith grabbed her wrist jerked her back, pulling her several paces away from Milton.

"Luna. Calm down. We'll get out of here but we're not gonna do it by scaring the only person we know here. We have to figure out what's going on and where we are before we go running around and pissing people off, alright?" She signed all of this rapidly, but Luna was still shaking with fury, her hands clenched into fists down at her sides.

"I'll tell you how we get out! We haul him out at knife point and lead him through the hall until they show us the door out of here!" Luna's face twisted into a snarled expression even as she signed back to Judith. She shifted just slightly so Judith could see her knife strapped inside her vest and Judith felt both a blaze of comfort, and worry at the same time. The fact that at least one of them armed was a good thing, but Judith didn't trust Luna's judgment right in this moment.

"No! That's not how we do this. We could get killed. They already shot Carl, we have no idea what they're capable of or what they want with us. We have to lay low for now, ok? We'll get out of here, I promise, but not like this." Luna could see the tension almost vibrating through Judith's fingers and wrists, trembling up her arms and rattling against her skin, drawing the muscles of her face tight as her thin chest almost shuddered as she tried to draw her breath. Luna could not remember a moment she had seen her friend so stressed before.

At the mention of her adoptive brother Luna quieted. She remembered Carl's cries of pain as he'd been struck with the bullets, the way he'd tumbled to the ground in a pool of blood. If he was dead…her hands shook at the thought and it was as if everything in her mind ground down to a halt. She couldn't picture anybody in her family being dead, but the thought of the ones she'd been taken from made her heart twist and burn. Her parents would be crazed by this point, she was sure. They hadn't wanted her to go in the first place, what would they do now? Had Carl made it back to tell them what happened or was he still lying there in that street, food for the biters at this point? Would they even know what had happened to them? How would they find them, if they did somehow realize the truth? Or would they assume they'd been eaten on the run, that they'd all gone down in a heap of rotted corpses to become just another nameless, faceless, insatiable biter? She shivered at the thought, her whole body shaking.

"Is she alright?" Milton asked softly from behind Judith's shoulder.

Judith focused on Luna for a moment longer and pulled herself together. Regardless of what happened now, she had to keep it together. If Luna shot themselves in the foot in a fit of anger, Judith wasn't excluding the possibility of the two of them getting killed, and so it was with some uneasiness that she sought Luna's gaze. When her sister's eyes reached hers they were solid and willing to follow along for a little while at least. It was the best she could have hoped for right now, and Judith let out a quiet breath of relief. She turned back to the man. "She's fine. We're fine. But we want to know what's going on here, right now."

Milton shifted with a bit of unease. "What I can tell you is that as long as you cooperate you'll be well treated. We don't want to hurt you. All of this that's going on is to help everyone that's left." He glanced down at the golden watch on his wrist. "I have another appointment, but I'll see to it that you're brought rations and a change of clothes. I'll give you more information as I can." He slipped out of the room and Luna bolted forward, trying to catch her fingers in the gap so that it couldn't close all the way but Judith snagged her arm again and held her back.

"Don't," she warned.

"You believe anything that rat says?" Luna signed, a growl slipping through her throat as she watched the door shut, effectively locking them in.

"Yes," Judith said firmly. "I believe he knows more than he lets on, that much is bleeding obvious, but I don't think he intends to hurt us."

"Can't say the same for his friends," Luna responded, bitterness and anger radiating from her posture. She unsheathed her knife from inside her vest and spun it deftly in her fingers, the harsh artificial lights from above their heads gleaming off the edge of the blade. "I wonder why they didn't find this, it wasn't hidden that well," she observed.

"Well put it away before someone does catch on!" Judith hissed. Luna's lips twisted into another wicked, evil looking expression, something she had learned from her mother, and she huffed a throaty laugh.

"They messed with the wrong kids," she signed to Judith. "I'll paint the walls red before they hurt us anymore."

Judith nodded in agreement and approached Luna slowly. She reached her hand up and took her by the wrist, stroking her thumb over the back of her hand and very lightly caressing the handle of her knife with her fingers. "We both will. We're getting out of here. We just have to be careful how we do it."

Luna looked into Judith's eyes and met her sister measure for measure. Shining from beneath the brown depths was a luster that neither her older brother nor her father had. A gleam just like the edge of the knife glistening above their heads, just as razor sharp, and without question just as lethal.


	5. Chapter 5

_**Welcome back my wonderful readers and reviewers. I know I'm a tad later in this update than I would have liked but work was insane this past week. Hopefully everything will ease up this week. Enjoy my friends!**_

**Michonne-Impossible**: _This story used to be good until you changed it into "Your" own series. You changed it way to much just because you want to get discovered. Write a book of your own and see if its any good you just turned the walking dead into a fake little game. Pathetic_

Well I'm sorry you feel that way. The whole purpose of fanfiction, at least to me, is to take a concept that was already in use by someone else, and expand upon it with your own twist. So I don't feel the need to ask for forgiveness for doing what I think the site was built for. You're perfectly within your right to not like my story, but it's rude and childish to call me pathetic. I do indeed want to be discovered, but I'll do that on my own time, in my way own, with my own work that you certainly don't have to read for yourself. I will not apologize for pushing what I think are the boundaries of this fandom in my own way. I hope you find better uses for your time than to try and stop other people's creativity. And even if you never read this, I hope you don't go spreading your poison on anyone else's story. It's shameful.

**Emberka-2012**: _Yes, they are a family. Just too bad that so little. Interestingly, Daryl and Fox did not want to have more children? Or care about the Luna for them was the most important. If the kidnappers are the same people that kidnapped Fox, they'd better remember how it ended for Philip. "Is she alright?" Milton mocks them? They were kidnapped, on their eyes injured their brother, and he asks such questions. It appears from the response of the Luna, he should be happy that he is still alive himself, but he can hardly expect from them humility and understanding._

Indeed they are a family, but that's a concept someone like Milton might have ah are time really understanding. I don't think Daryl and Fox were against having more kids, but the problem is that pregnancy and giving birth is dangerous in an environment without proper medical equipment and training, and so its a huge risk for the mother, and the unborn baby too- just look what happened to Lori. Plus with Luna being deaf, Daryl and Fox had their hands full watching her almost every minute because she couldn't be left alone. Heh, Phillip and his fate, that's a story that'll come back and haunt a good many people as the story goes on ;) Milton's not mocking them per say…he's just kind of slow on the uptake. He doesn't realize, or maybe just turns a blind eye, to the fact that these kids are taken very much against their will. He should indeed be very grateful he's alive, but he doesn't quite know how grateful just yet, but he'll realize that soon enough…

**Brittney**: _Milton! :) Im curious to know who Milton is working with because you are obviously not following the show (your stories are just as awesome though!). Are the group on track with thinking it's the same people that took Fox? When will Merle come back? Is he involved? I can't wait to find out!_

So many good questions, and all with answers in time as the story goes on =)

**FanFicGirl10**: _Damn Fox went all badass on the house with good reasons. I'm curious to see how this will affect Daryl and Fox's relationship will it tear them apart or will it bring them together? I will just have to wait and find out. Oh I hope in time Milton helps the girls get out, I'm trying to have faith in him. Good chapter, Update Soon_

Hah, yeah, Fox doesn't have much of a filter (I think by now we all know this) and so something was going to have to shatter when Carl brought back the news that Judith and Luna had been kidnapped. As far as her relationship with Daryl and what will happen from the stress of all this happening…they've been together almost twenty years, I think that if anything it will drive them closer BUT you never can tell…this is the Walking Dead after all, and neither of them have the best coping skills… As far as Milton is concerned, he's a slippery little snake isn't he? I can't wait to play around with him and what he holds in store for the plot ;)

**WinterIsComing01**: _Ah, Milton. Yes, he was an interesting character, wasn't he? I don't see him wanting to really hurt the girls as he never really wanted to hurt anyone on the show - he just had zero backbone. However I am curious about this boss of his and I do suspect it is Jenner. He escaped Wildflower unscathed and there's nothing to suggest he ISN'T up to his old tricks twenty years later. In fact, I'm rather curious about his studies and experiments up to now - he's GOT to have made some interesting discoveries, right? I wonder what it is he wants with the young people though - maybe to see if they still carry the virus? Maybe if their blood is "pure/clean" he wants to harvest them out or something... or try to use their blood to create cures? Or further the human population? Maybe there's some sort of safe haven where they want to corral all of the "pure" humans to rebuild civilization? *cue mind blowing apart*_

Exactly. Milton's game isn't to hurt anybody…but his lack of spine prevents him from standing up for other people in the face of those who would hurt them. Oooh, you have so many awesome theories, you'll just have to wait and see what I've got up my long sleeves now won't you? ;)

**arrowsandkittens**: _This chapter was so powerful! You write so well that I could feel what Fox and Daryl were feeling. I thought there was no way that you could describe an emotion better than you did in Wildflower but I was clearly wrong. Daryl and Luna's relationship is beautiful, and when you explained how he felt towards his daughter, how she was how he could compensate his broken childhood... I don't even know what to say. You really should write a book based in this._

You know when I first wrote this chapter I had it pretty detailed about what was going on and the feelings and everything but then I set it aside for a day or so and came back to do my final edit and I decided that it just wasn't enough, so I revamped and added in more detail and really tried to dig deep into the meat of the matter at hand, and I'm glad because it seems to have paid off. With everything I write I want to improve and have it be better than the last chapter so I keep trying to find things to improve on. And in the context of Daryl's relationship with Luna…part of the reason he cares so much for her is as you stated that she is the vessel for him being able to heal all of the terrible things that happened to him as a child. He can't change the past, but he can do all the things for her that his family never did for him and in doing so self-soothe in a way. That reasoning is why he was so involved in trying to find Sophia and when he failed in bringing her back it rattled him much more than it would have otherwise, plus I think Daryl just has a soft spot for kids, cue examples from the show when Judith was born and also when he was in the tombs with Carl and trying to talk to him after Lori died. As far as an original work by me…well…let's just say…I've got plans my friend ;)

**KatlynIreneGlasse**: _I always review later than I'd like *Le sigh*. Milton huh that's one thing I didn't see coming. I think I'm in love with Luna I already liked her but I think I'm in love, she needs a OC to take my love and give it to her that annd she'd be cute with someone. By the way who's eyes did she get, green, or blue? Dang it I've got to go so until next time K- I need a new sign off, help me. Kat-for now._

Haha, well I can tell you that Luna will definitely be meeting new people and I have so much planned for her that I can't wait to bring to you guys. It's definitely gonna be a crazy ride ;) I mentioned this I think Chapter 2, but Luna got her daddy's eyes =)

** Jerrie Higarashi**: _Hellooooo Milton Mamet. He's such a cutie. Lol I love how nervous he always is. He's the good guy in the mixture of the bad guys and I love it! ;D It's very unique that Luna can speak even though she is pretty much deaf. Not very many people can do that. I bet I couldn't... She's a very talented and special girl but she needs to learn how to tone down her crazy personality! The love between her and Daryl is amazing. It's a love that all father and daughters should share... Once again, another great chapter..._

When I first saw Milton on the show I totally wasn't sold but he grew on me as the season wore on and I was sad to see him go, and I knew I wanted to bring him in on Wolfsong, so I'm happy to make use of him =) I've actually known a few deaf/semi-deaf people who learned how to speak so that was where that inspiration came from. Mm, if only the relationship that Luna and Daryl share was shared between all parents and their kids. There'd be a lot less problems in the world for sure…

**RedneckBunny**: _Grrrr Milton. I never liked him, even towards the end of the last season when he was conflicted and tried to do right. Now you've got me interested to see how you play out his character. I hate it and love it. Part of me wishes you just had Luna violently gut him. Just gut ALL the bad guys. It's a good thing she has Judith with her though cuz she probably would've gut people by now. I love Luna._

Haha, you know what, Luna completely agrees with that sentiment. She's more or less screaming for Milton's blood, just barely restrained by Judith xD She certainly inherited her mother's wild, violent streak, that's for sure. Milton, you better watch your back…

* * *

For her the night was always silent, save for the occasional storm that would hit the mountain side and rattle the windows of their house with the force of the thunder. Once she'd gotten older and learned that storms were just elements of nature and not all that dangerous as long as she had shelter, she became fascinated by them. Thunder was one of the only sounds loud enough for her to hear, and whenever she saw those dark clouds rolling in, it was all her parents could do to keep her off the roof to be closer to the violence in the sky. The silence around her was nothing new…but it was a different kind of silence. Heavier, suffocating, strangling any sense of calm she tried to keep a hold of.

She wanted to be back at home desperately. She missed her father's heavy but loving hand on her shoulder or the back of her head, ruffling at her hair. She missed her mother's green eyes that were so vivid sometimes they put the pine needles and grass to shame, looking at her with pride and just a little bit of competition. She missed Rick's easy smile when she and Judith came back in from a day out in the fields and the way his eyes would brighten when he hugged his daughter and then her too because he'd helped raise her just like Daryl had helped raise Judith. She missed the way Carl would flop down on the couch, pretending to be exhausted, kicking his boots off and Judith would always howl and push his feet down to the floor, claiming the smell was enough to kill a biter, and a playful wrestling match would ensue. She missed Glenn's teasing and challenging as he commented on who had done the most work that day in the fields or with their supplies. She missed the smell of Maggie's incredible cooking and her 'I can't believe they're having that discussion again' eye-roll as she watched Glenn debate with the other men. She missed Benjamin's amused expression when he started playing trivia, knowing full well nobody else would know the answer to his questions because they hadn't gone to college and didn't spend their time reading fancy textbooks with glossy pages that smelled slick and felt cool underneath her fingertips.

"What are you thinking about?" Judith signed to her, the motion of her hands easily picked up by Luna out of the corner of her eye.

Luna turned fully on her heel so she could see Judith fully. She'd been standing near the door, staring at it forlornly, thinking of home, thinking about this small, stony space was all wrong and how badly her family must be worried by now. When she comprehended Judith's signs she answered with her own.

"Home. I want to go home." She let her hands drop and her fingers clenched. She fought off the trembling and pushed away the sadness as much as she could. Her skin suddenly grew cold and she stepped away from the door and back towards Judith to sit on the thin cot next to her.

"Me too," Judith agreed. "Dad's probably had a heart attack by now," she signed sadly.

Luna nodded. "Mom's torn the house to pieces and crashed the car trying to speed down the mountain. Remember that time I got lost? She nearly went over the cliff she was driving so fast."

Judith picked her head up. Out of the many in her childhood, that was one of her most vivid memories. She'd been about eight, and Luna had been seven, and they were playing hide and seek on the rocky slopes of the cliff just below their cabins. It had been Luna's turn to hide and she'd taken off running, going further down the mountain than their parents had said they were allowed to go. She'd run so far that she'd lost track of where she was, and could not hear the frantic cries of her sister calling for her. Eventually Judith had fessed up about what had happened and the whole camp had gone tearing down the mountain. It had been her father to find her eventually where she was hiding up in a tree. That had been the first, and not the last time, she'd seen him angry with her for scaring him so badly. Neither of the girls had been allowed out of their parents' sight for a solid month after that little incident.

"I remember," Judith signed. She looked over at Luna and caught her sister's eyes. "How long do you think it'll be this time before we can set foot out the door without someone over our shoulder?"

Luna tilted her head. "A year?" she signed.

Judith would have replied but she heard something from behind the door. She grabbed Luna's wrist and yanked her on her feet. Judith herded both of them towards the furthest corner from the door just in case and Luna's hand automatically went for her knife still tucked in her vest.

The door swung open and Milton appeared there. Judith relaxed minimally but Luna still remained defensive, although she did let her hand fall from where her knife was hidden as to not give its position away.

"Girls, relax. We're not the enemy, ok? We're not going to hurt you." Milton's voice was just shy of condescending and Luna had the strong urge to break his face against the cinderblock wall for it. She couldn't hear the tone, but she could see it written all over his face. He was annoyed he had to deal with them.

_That makes two of us, now come just a little closer and I'll put you out of your misery, _Luna thought darkly.

"Let us go then," Judith growled, her expression vicious, her dark eyes flashing hotly beneath her brows.

Milton sighed. "You two might as well stop asking that, I told you before, I can't release you. There's a reason for everything that's happening, you'll understand soon enough." He pushed his glasses back up his nose and then turned out towards the hall. Luna's muscles seized when she saw three men approach the door to the room. Beside her Judith tensed as well.

"Now don't panic ladies. These men are going to take you to get cleaned up and processed to make sure you're physically set for transport." Milton's facial expression was teetering between nervousness and anxiety and Luna bared her teeth.

"Transport where?" Judith demanded, not moving an inch out of the corner but she did step to the side to give Luna more room to maneuver. Behind her back she had Luna's hand in her own and was writing an entirely different conversation in her palm.

_When they move, get your knife, push one out the door and into the wall, turn and run!_

"Atlanta. This facility isn't equipped for what we need the two of you for, plus the supplies are all but gone and there's not enough nearby to continue restocking. We're moving operations to the rebuilt CDC facility," he explained. Judith's head spun with that information. If they couldn't make it out, how the hell would her family know where they'd been taken? It quickly didn't matter though because just then the men came into the room, crowding the space. Judith flashed to the side and kneed one in the groin as hard as she could, causing him to drop straight to the ground while she drove her fist straight into Milton's face, crunching the bridge of his nose against her knuckles. Heaves and high pitched yelps of pain rang through her skull as Luna simultaneously whipped her knife forward and lunged towards the third guard. She shoved him straight through the door and rammed her blade clean through his arm that was reaching for some kind of weapon strapped to his hip. He screamed a glassine whine of pain that reached Luna's deaf ears and beat up against her eardrum like a splinter digging at her brain. She yanked her knife loose and shoved the man away before reaching down and taking what she realized was a gun out of his belt. This she shoved into Judith's hand before they turned to the right and ran like mad down the hall.

They had no frame of reference for where they were being held, where the exit was, how far down underground they'd been taken, or what guards they might face on the way up. At the end of the hall they faced a metal staircase and a door and without hesitation Luna charged up and kicked it open, the clanging sound of metal meeting stone like thunder in Judith's ears. She pelted after Luna who was going full tilt down the hall but as soon as they rounded another corner they faced a small herd of people, some dressed like soldiers and some not. Judith yelped and skidded in the other direction, grabbing Luna by the shirt collar and pulling her the other way. They took the left turn and then another right as angry voices began chasing them down the hall. They kept running, booted feet pounding against slick linoleum, artificial lights glaring down as the sound of gasped breathing filled the narrow corridors. They took another turn and found a second staircase, and at the top they saw a map taped near the door. This Luna ripped off the wall while Judith flung the door open surprised and thankful to find that it was unlocked. They pelted up the hallway, Luna rapidly trying to take in and memorize the piece of paper in front of her, so much so that when she skidded to a sudden halt Judith crashed into her back. She flung her arm back and pointed to another T-junction down which they ran like banshees even as an alarm began to sound. This too reached Luna's ears, startling her as the sound pounded against her skull, as irritating as a thorn in the bottom of her foot.

They came to another corner but Judith could hear more voices now. She grabbed Luna by the shoulder and forced her back before she could charge down. They peeked around cautiously and saw people leaving a set of double doors and as those doors swung back and forth it wafted to both girls the smell of cooking food. Luna stabbed the map where the large square labeled cafeteria was located. To their right, the same direction all of the people were going, was the route to get to the exit.

"Fall in," Judith signed. As soon as the last man walked past their hallway Luna and Judith fell in step behind him. It killed Luna not to be moving faster but she followed the herd as they cleared another set of doors when the crowd all at once took a sharp turn.

"Fire alarm!" Judith hissed excitedly to Luna as she realized finally what the alarm was for. "They'll head for the exit, stay with them, go, go, go!"

They stayed with the crowd, always following close as they went up another set of spiral staircases and then down another hall, this one a little wider and once they cleared the staircase, Luna's eyes shot to another door that was flung open and people were coming up a ramp rather than a set of stairs and she realized that must have been the way that large carts of supplies were hauled down to the cafeteria. Unfortunately now it had soldiers coming up it and as soon as they saw Luna and Judith, chaos erupted, just like when a cougar paws open a beehive.

Judith screamed shrilly, loud enough that even Luna could hear and it made a needle sharp stab of fear drive through her. She kicked her legs into overdrive and began to push and shove even as rough men's voice that she could not hear but Judith could bounced off the stone hallways. The crowd pressed in and simultaneously fell apart, everyone flinging themselves in every direction, trying like mad to stay out of the line of fire. Judith flicked the safety off of the gun and aimed it high over the heads of the crowd and squeezed the trigger. The pop of the gunshot made people scream and duck as dust from shattered rock began to rain down. Luna saw her chance and took the gun from Judith and pulled the trigger again, aiming directly at the men chasing them, forcing them to duck down to avoid being hit, and as they did, Luna swung the gun up and emptied the clip into the ceiling of the hall, causing such a flurry of dust and debris and pieces of rock to come down that it blinded the soldiers and temporarily provided a shield to the fleeing civilians and escaping teenagers.

Luna and Judith pelted after the remaining crowd until they reached what looked like a loading bay that was built into the side of a mountain, crates and other supplies stacked up on the side but a space large enough for vehicles to drive into clear. The civilians were pouring through the double doors that led to this space and out into the dark night outside. Luna and Judith ran for it and finally cleared the doors the extra space of the loading bay giving them the room to maneuver. They burst free of the mountain gasping for air and shaking with the slamming force of adrenaline.

"Alive! We need them alive!" came a vicious order from somewhere near the mountain. Luna frantically gestured to the front gate and both girls ran in that direction like bats out of hell as shots began to ring out, pinging against vehicles and the ground made of gravel rock beneath their feet. When they reached the chain-link structure, which of course was locked, Luna didn't hesitate. She flung herself onto it and began to climb, shoving her knife between her teeth, clenching the handle tightly as she hauled herself like a squirrel up the fence, Judith right beside her.

Pain exploded in the small of her back and her shoulders. She flung her head back and saw Judith in a similar state but as Luna's eyes refocused she saw no blood and Judith too wore a confused expression. Then the smell of pepper began to burn through their nose and eyes and Luna realized the enemy must have been firing some kind of rubber bullet laced with mace. Her family used to let her practice with the rubber bullets when she'd first been learning how to shoot as a child.

"Keep moving!" Judith howled even as she was struck again with another bullet, this time in her upper shoulder. An explosion of mace hit her in the face and she cried out with misery as her skin began to burn. Luna reached over to help haul her another foot up the fence but then a bullet struck her hand, rendering the appendage useless due to the bone bruising pain. The mace roared through her, blinding all her senses, choking her breath and burning her eyes like claws gouging into her eyeballs. She let out a deep throated snarl of pain and tried to keep going but then her upper back began to be peppered with shots and she collapsed, sliding down the fence right along with Judith.

"Bag them!" someone's voice ordered.

She couldn't see, she'd shut her eyes to avoid getting mace into them, but she could still feel. She spat her knife out into her good hand and swiped it blindly, managing to crack one eye open and this time when she cut, she almost took someone's foot off their leg. The man screamed and fell back and Luna launched herself to her feet, or would have except a hand flashed out and grabbed her dominant arm, the one with the knife in its hand, and twisted until she fell to her knees, less her arm break in two. Someone else pounced behind her back and shoved her head down into the dirt, forcing her to eat a mouthful of gravel, scraping her teeth against it while her arms were hauled behind her back. Her knife was scooped up and she screamed like an enraged cougar just before a black bag came down over her head and pain exploded in the back of her skull, rendering her immediately unconscious.

Judith watched with horror as Luna's body stilled. She went limp in their captor's grip, her bag covered head lolling down between her shoulders as the soldiers hauled her up and began to drag her away.

"Now stop struggling, unless you want to meet with the same result," came another order. This voice was cool and disdainful and when Judith jerked her head up from where she was being restrained on the ground she saw a man standing above her, but unlike those she was familiar with. His skin was darker, the shape of his facial features was different, and the lilt to his voice suggested an accent, although what kind she couldn't label.

"Don't hurt her!" Judith pleaded as she watched Luna dragged away helplessly. She could barely breathe from the stinging of the mace on her face and she couldn't stop the tears streaking down her cheeks due to the burning chemical assaulting her eyes.

"Well that is entirely up to the two of you," the man above her drawled. "Play nice and everything will be fine." The man looked into the faces of the soldiers holding her down. "Get them both cleaned up, restrained, and in the chopper, I want to be out of here by midnight, let's go!"

Judith was hauled off back towards the cave, the gate disappearing behind her. She watched the man who had given the order to have her taken away and although her instinct was to thrash violently she knew the only way she'd be reunited with Luna was if she stopped struggling, and she didn't dare be separated from her sister for long, for both their sakes.

Milton watched both girls were dragged back into the base as he came out to meet with Martinez to asses the disruption caused to the people helping them pack all of their supplies up into their vehicles, as well as any of the injured, not the least of which was himself. That Judith may have been as thin as a crane but damn did she pack a mean hit. He didn't need an expert medical opinion to know his nose was broken, blood was still leaking out of it even as he pressed a rag against it trying to stop the scarlet fluid from running down his face.

"What's the damage?" Milton demanded.

Martinez's eyebrows went up when he saw the injury to Milton's face. "Well, well, well, the lab-rat finally takes a hit. Nice of you to experience a little of your dirty work yourself for a change," he drawled. He shook his shoulders and readjusted his gun in his holster. "The deaf one, she did the most damage. Stabbed one of our soldiers clean through the arm. Another one she almost took the foot off. No telling if he'll ever have use of his foot again." Martinez glared at Milton angrily. "How the hell did this happen?"

"I was told they were both unarmed! I don't know where she got the knife!" Milton insisted, although the faintest touch of a nervous tremor entered his tone.

Martinez spat at his feet. "Shoddy work. Why do you bother to get so attached to these kids, you know where they're going!"

Milton glared right back. "I don't have to explain myself to you," he muttered.

"You're gonna have to explain yourself to the doctor. Thanks to this little fuck up we're behind schedule at least six hours." Martinez's voice was somewhere between serves-you-right and aggravation.

"I'm still going with them! I go with all of the test subjects," Milton insisted hotly.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, fucking pussy, you're going with them, while me and the boys have to clean up your mess. Christ I have to do everything myself." Martinez waved him away angrily. "Get going, make sure nothing else happens, and if it does, I'm going to save the doctor the trouble of asking for your head on a silver platter and I'll deliver it there myself!"

* * *

The darkness was back and it was thicker than ever, and thanks to the pepper spray she couldn't smell anything and her skull was still rattling from the din of the alarm and gunfire from outside the base. Guards shoved Judith in the back until she staggered into a cold tiled room. She almost slipped on the wet floor underneath her feet and when she caught herself on a metal railing and looked up she recognized a shower head from the homes that she and her family would sometimes raid looking for supplies.

"Wash that mace off of you, nobody's touching you until you do," one of the soldiers barked at her.

"Where's Luna?" she demanded hotly, not moving an inch from where she was huddled around the corner of the shower.

"Your little pal? Probably getting a good scrub down with steel wool, nothing less than what she deserves. Now get moving!"

A towel and a change of clothes were thrown in next to her and Judith quickly snatched these up before they could get wet on the floor. She set them aside on the little bench out of reach of the shower's spray and quickly cranked the water on. She was surprised to find that it came out warm and quickly she stripped behind the safety of the cubical like stall. She stood under the spray and scrubbed with the cheap bar of soap and rag she found on one of the little shelves, very grateful that she could finally get the mace off her skin and out of her eyes, the warm water helping to soothe the burn. She scrubbed herself as hard and as thoroughly as she possibly could but all too soon the water, which must have been on a timer, shut off. She'd only rinsed about half the soap off her body but that would have to do. She snatched the towel and dried off before wriggling into the clothes that were a size too big for her. It felt all wrong. None of it smelt like her, none of it felt familiar, but when she emerged barefoot and shaking slightly she was grabbed up by the men and marched down a hallway before being unceremoniously thrown into a room with no light and locked in. She stumbled and struggled in the darkness until she felt something warm hit her foot. The thing beneath her gave a groan and immediately Judith dropped down to her hands and knees.

"Luna?" she whispered, knowing full well that if it was her she wouldn't hear but she couldn't bring her voice to go louder. She rolled the body at her feet to her back and felt along her face.

"Judith," the body under her croaked. "You smell wrong."

Judith sobbed for joy. She grabbed Luna up and hugged her tight, and in doing so Luna groaned again with pain. Judith realized she was bound again, this time with handcuffs, and judging from the wincing and the tender way she was moving had probably taken a bad beating, but it was impossible to tell in the darkness.

"Are you alright?" Judith asked, drawing the signs into Luna's arm.

"Hurt…hurts to breathe," she rasped.

Judith ran her hands against Luna's chest and abdomen, feeling nothing immediately abnormal but when she stroked down one of Luna's middle ribs she seized and let out a grunt of pain.

"Could be a broken rib, but hopefully it's just bruised," Judith signed against Luna's arm.

"Benjy would know." Her rasp was harsher and she coughed weakly by the end.

"He would," Judith agreed. "But just rest for now," she signed. "You need it."

"Atlanta…" Luna grated the name between her teeth. "They're going to take us to Atlanta. That's where our family is from." She choked again, almost retching from using her tongue and throat so much to speak when she was unaccustomed to doing so.

"Shh, Luna, rest now," Judith urged with her signs.

"We have to tell our family that they took us there." Luna coughed and shuddered again and bowed in on herself, her legs flexing weakly. Judith ran her fingers through her hair over and over again to soothe and quiet her until she felt Luna finally settle into a twitching sleep. Judith kept her thoughts on the problem at hand. They obviously weren't going to make it out of this base alive, so they had to somehow get a message through to their family if they found this place of where they'd gone. She looked down at Luna, barely able to make out her sleeping form in the deep inky darkness and as she ran her fingers against her skin she had an idea. She slid herself out from underneath Luna gently and then scrambled up to her feet, fumbling in the darkness until she found a wall. She patted down the surface and found it cold and textured, likely painted over cinderblock, but it would have to do. She dropped down lower to the floor before feeling out the space she needed. She sucked in a shaky breath in preparation before rolling her sleeve back and raising her left arm up just before sinking her teeth into her own forearm. Pain zinged up through her skin but not enough and with some effort she forced herself to bite down harder and harder until finally she tasted a flush of copper.

She jerked her head away and shuddered at the bad taste before swiping her fingers into the blood that was running down her arm. It took several minutes and one more bite to her arm to get enough blood to scrawl her message and when she stepped back she hoped like hell that no one would notice what she had done. She yanked down her sleeve down and pressed her arm against her knee and thigh to apply pressure and stem the bleeding.

Just moments later the door flung open letting in a thin shaft of light. Judith scrambled to cover her message on the wall with her body while simultaneously picking Luna up, startling her awake, and setting her on her feet.

"Come on you two, chopper's leaving, let's go!" was the rough order. Judith pushed Luna forward and they were immediately hemmed in by four more soldiers and the door shut with a heavy metallic clang. Judith breathed a heavy sigh of relief as they were marched away and no one had seen the message on the wall. Her arm was stinging from the self-inflicted wounds but it was well worth it. At least now her family had a chance to find them. The smallest, most long shot stab in the dark chance, but it was a chance.

They were led back outside into the cold dark night, Luna staggering along with her hands behind her back, stumbling almost blindly into Judith, and as they came into a wash of moonlight, Judith caught a glimpse of her bloodied face and bruised arms. So she had been beaten. It made a sharp stab of pain and anger go through it and she bared her teeth at the soldiers who were marching them to the far side of the compound that had been built outside the mountain itself towards a large black helicopter whose blades were already spinning. Upon seeing the machine Luna balked, panic washing over her face, but Judith's hand fell on her shoulder and steered her forward. She didn't know what was going to happen but they couldn't fight it anymore, not without risking serious injury. Luna pulled a face of disgust and fear but weakly clambered up into the belly of the machine, Judith right behind her. Almost immediately they were both strapped down to manacles fixed to the floor, their backs leaning against the wall of the machine. Across from them on one of the seats was Milton, his clipboard in hand and his nose freshly bandaged. Judith smirked noting the obvious discomfort in his face.

"Why'd you do this? You could have been well treated if you would have just trusted me," Milton said with a disappointed sigh.

Judith bared her teeth. "I'm only going to say this once. Fuck you Milton. You think that was bad?" She nodded to his broken nose. "There's a whole lot more where that came from."

Milton shivered and Luna noted the expression on Judith's face and felt her body pulse with molten heat made of anger. That fire lent her strength enough to pick her head up and fight through the pain and discomfort, flicking her tongue behind her teeth until she found her words.

"We could have killed you. Next time we won't hesitate."

The chopper began to vibrate even stronger as it began to lift up and off the ground. Milton squirmed across from them nervously and Luna leaned up against Judith, not trusting the shaking metal device nor the lurching in her stomach as they became airborne. She closed her eyes as she leaned her head against Judith's thin shoulder and tried not to imagine what might happen to them when they touched back down.

* * *

Once the group made it down the mountain and onto the highway Daryl couldn't wait any longer. He opened up the throttle on the bike and gunned the engine hard. Not only did the speed and power of the machine feel good underneath him but also he refused to drag this insanity out any longer. All he wanted from the second he'd fired up the engine on the bike was to have Luna back safe in his arms and until he had that, there was nothing in heaven, earth, or hell that was going to slow him down. Fox clutched his waist tightly as he kicked the speed up even higher, the wind whipping at them ferociously even as the convoy of other vehicles followed behind.

The night was dark as sin and the stars seemed further away than usual. The moonlight coming from the crescent shaped slice of the celestial body above their heads was thin but it was plenty enough to remind him of the gravity of their situation. He still remembered the conversation he had with Fox when he'd asked her about names for their then unborn child, and the moonlight now was only a painful reminder of what he had lost. He wondered dimly if at any point his parents had ever worried about him the way he worried for Luna. He knew damn well his father never had, but maybe his mother had. True she had been a drunk and neglectful of both her sons, but at least with her Daryl had a safe place to run when things got bad, at least for a little while. He'd never been afraid his mother would strike him, and after a while he got used to her not waking up whenever he would crawl into bed with her and try so hard to block out the raging confrontations between Merle and his father in the living room. It was after she had died that he had started running away from the house, leaving for hours at a time, trying to avoid all the things he wasn't strong enough to stop. He'd realized eventually of course that he wasn't fast enough to outrun all the things that were out there, and it wasn't long before he'd stopped trying. Merle had pushed against his metaphysical shoulder and forced him to buck up. His big brother had put his back against the wall and taught him that he'd better have his fists up and ready to swing or else the other bastard in his way was going to give him a shiner and a busted lip. Daryl had always been content to lean with his back against the wall, not minding there was no retreat because he'd never been a coward, but it was after the world had ended that the brick wall had come tumbling down. Then he'd been so exposed it was like a nerve brought up to the surface of the skin and being burned repeatedly. It wasn't until the group and Fox had come along that he'd learned to trust the eyes that weren't just watching him with suspicion, but were actually watching out for him. He hoped like hell that Luna and Judith were at least together. As long as they were together, they could protect each other. Judith could warn Luna of danger she couldn't hear, as well as hopefully rein in her explosive, dangerously volatile temper, and Luna could warn Judith of threats she couldn't see, of varying degrees. Despite not being Rick's biological daughter, Judith had many of his tendencies, including the inclination to wait and see, leaving herself vulnerable to more ruthless predators. Luna much preferred to shoot first and ask questions later, and wouldn't hesitate to eliminate an incoming threat without checking to see how dangerous it really was first in order to protect her sister.

When they reached the little town where the attack had happened, everyone killed the speed on their vehicles and eventually found a clear lot to stash them about four blocks away from the place where Carl had crashed. As soon as they killed power to the engines of their vehicles everyone huddled together at the edge of the lot, various weapons drawn, breath sucked in tight through their teeth.

"We need a low profile, avoid the Walkers if you can. We approach slowly where Carl crashed, and then the place where the girls were actually taken. There are bodies there, we have to assume Walkers have picked up the scent. If its overrun, we retreat, straight back to the vehicles." Rick's voice was low and serious, his eyes flashing in the darkness. As they moved out of the lot, all of them keeping in a loose formation, Daryl couldn't help but feel an old sense of nostalgia creeping back through his veins. He'd be a liar if he said that domestic life up in the mountains had grown monotonous from time to time, that he missed the thrill of battle and the satisfying burn of a dangerous job well done. He took a glance over at Fox and saw that she had one of her kukri knives out already, and she was moving with the same barely restrained energy that she'd always had whenever they were about to do something dangerous. He remembered the first time he'd seen her fight, so many years ago in the quarry when the camp had been invaded by Walkers, how impressed and bewildered he'd been with her recklessness, and even more of that feeling had gone through him when he'd gone with her and Glenn into Atlanta for supplies. He had no doubt that what had driven her then would only be ten fold now. Now she had a mission, a firebrand of a goal that would drive her until she dropped dead, and Daryl knew that she would risk everything, and likely everyone, to ensure that the girls were brought home safely.

Rick took the lead, Carl at his side, everyone else flanking in a loose circle. They crossed the pitch dark streets, watching very carefully for Walkers or anything else moving, and Daryl sorely wished that he had Luna's keen eyesight. His heart was pounding beneath his ribs as he stuck tight to the group, one hand on his buck knife, the other gripping his bow, an arrow already strung back, ready to be fired. The concrete was a wash of silver and black, the air tinged with the faintest scent of death and char. The leaves of the trees that dotted the trees at the edges of the sidewalks hissed softly in the cool wind that blew through the streets as pieces of trash and dead leaves skittered across their path. The buildings that flanked the cracked roads were chipped and crumbling, most of them with busted windows and damaged doors, only a few that were boarded up. Shadows dripped over the brick, moving with sinister slowness that began to drive Daryl mad, reminding him of the shadows that had slipped like spilled oil over his bedroom walls as a child, disturbing him with their evil looking shapes until he finally shut his eyes so his imagination could no longer play tricks on him. He shoved his focus back to the present; something twitched in the corner of Daryl's vision and immediately he whipped his bow in that direction, his heart now in his throat, expecting some kind of attack, be it from Walkers or the people who had taken Luna and Judith he didn't know. Or care.

His eyes strained to see in the darkness where the motion had come from. He kept his eyes trained on the shadowed doorway of the building, believing that was where the motion had originated. When nothing came towards them and the twitching motion died, Fox tapped his wrist and tilted her head, beckoning him to follow. He did so, but he couldn't lose the horrible feeling in the back of his neck that he was being watched.

Carl led them to the site where the smoldering remains of the Jeep were resting, smashed to bits against a now very mangled electric pole. Everyone held their breath as they approached, especially when they saw a small group of Walkers encircling the car, tottering around on shaky legs, some of them clawing at the broken glass and metal as if trying to get in.

"I can't believe this…" Benjamin whispered softly from where they were crouched behind the corner of a set of buildings.

"Believe what?" Rick hissed.

"They're learning," was the medic's quiet reply.

"How do you figure that?" Glenn asked with a very confused expression that Daryl whole-heartedly agreed with. Walkers didn't learn. They were incapable of anything except tearing things apart to find food.

"It's like they know that damaged cars that are warm might have food inside. They're only attracted to the warm car. They don't mess with cold cars, but the Jeep is still smoking from the crash, but it's been long enough that they would have wandered away usually. It's like they know there just might be food inside…" Benjamin trailed off, still staring at the sight of the Walkers mouthing and pulling clumsily at the doors and busted windows of the Jeep.

"Doesn't matter. Stick close to the wall, this place is abandoned but up the road might not be. If there's any survivors, they might be able to help us." Rick's voice was gritty as if somewhere between disgust and anger. Fox nodded after him and stuck close to his side as they all slunk around the corner and quietly slipped past the geeks, although Daryl noted that they were beginning to be followed by the slow, ambling corpses. It wasn't a big deal as long as they kept at a fast pace, and none of them had any desire to slow down.

Carl took the lead and now and guided them back down several streets until they reached the gas station where the initial fight had taken place. There were even more biters here, almost all of them crowded around several bodies that were on the ground and being ripped to pieces by the ravenous monsters. The smell of blood and death was prominent in the air.

"Move in and kill the biters. The bodies may be able to tell us something," Rick ordered.

They all surged forward at once, taking the Walkers by surprise. By the time they had looked up from their meal, Daryl shot one clean through the skull with his crossbow and had whipped his buck knife out and stabbed another right through the eye. Fox split a skull with her kukri knife with ease while Glenn and Maggie dispatched two more. Even Benjamin had a hand in slaying one, picking it off with a sharp swing of a metal bat. Carl and Rick destroyed the remainders easily with knives of their own, dropping the last of the corpses with dull, splattered thuds.

Rick crouched down and began to rifle through the corpse that the biters had been feeding on, going through the pockets and picking over the uniform, looking for something of an identifying nature but finding nothing. He did take the man's gun and spare clips and his knife and stowed them in his belt but found nothing of use as far as locating Luna or Judith. He kicked the body in frustration and began to pace restlessly, even as the first group of biters made their way up the street, relentlessly pursuing the live prey.

"Rick!" Benjamin suddenly cried out in terror. One of the bodies that they hadn't searched had unexpectedly seized and its hand had wrapped around Rick's ankle and begun to drag the man towards its jaw of ravenous, deadly teeth. Rick overbalanced and tumbled to the ground, not having expected the jab. Benjamin snatched at his shoulder and began to haul him away while Glenn swept forward and hacked the creature's arm off, severing it at the elbow while Daryl curb stomped the monster's face, effectively breaking its jaw before unsheathing his knife and stabbing it through the skull, stilling its movements. The hand of the severed arm however was still clenching Rick's ankle in a bruising death grip and now Fox reached in and gripped the wrist and used her knife to force the fingers to let go to avoid any chance of being scratched before yanking the arm off and flinging it towards the geeks who were still advancing on them. They were immediately drawn to the source of food and followed the limb where it landed several yards away and began to fight over it in a mad scramble to get at the flesh.

"Come on, we have to go," Maggie urged, helping Benjamin haul a still shaky Rick to his feet.

"She's right, now, while they're distracted!" Rick hissed. They all followed the sheriff and began to complete the square to head for the vehicles, still keeping their eyes peeled for any sign of life besides that of the undead but saw nothing. Nothing until they came around the back side of that building that had gotten Daryl's attention earlier and this time saw a definitive motion of movement inside one of the buildings through a pane of glass.

"Guns," Rick whispered.

Daryl slid his bow behind his back and unsheathed his pistol, double-checking that there was a bullet in the chamber before advancing with the rest of the group. Fox had her nine-millimeter tucked into her belt but she had yet to draw it. Even now, almost twenty years later, she was still reluctant to use a gun, and would only draw one as a last resort. The rest of them however had no qualms about firearms and were glad to have theirs in their hands.

They approached the building, moving at a fast lope until they rounded on the structure and its broken open windows and found a man inside curled in on his side as he huddled near the wall, his legs kicking weakly as he fought for breath. Rick jerked his head and Benjamin darted forward and rolled the feebly struggling man to his back and Daryl pulled out his pack of matches from his pocket and struck one, giving them brief light to see.

The man's face was a mess of blood and lacerations, and from the burst of firelight they could see what was causing his physical distress; a gunshot straight in the chest, the blast large but almost scattered looking, having ripped away pieces of flesh and obviously severely damaged the internal chest cavity, making it almost impossible for him to breathe, but oddly it didn't look as bad as it might have been, like something had been between him and the direct blast.

"What happened?" Benjamin asked the man as he tipped him back to his side so when he hacked up a mouthful of blood it was easier for him to spit onto the floor so he could breathe.

"Bitch with a shotgun shot me…less than five feet away…went right through my vest…" the words were groans, barely intelligible but Carl's eyes flashed.

"You! You were there!" Carl's voice was murderous. "Where did they go? Where did they take those kids!"

The man spat at Carl's feet and shook Benjamin's hands off his shoulders. "What does it matter? I'm dead anyway, you can't do anything…" he coughed.

Rick's eyes burned but it was Fox who beat him to the threats. Fox muscled Benjamin out of the way and grabbed the man by the neck and physically hauled him into a sitting position, making him cry out in ferocious pain as she shoved him against the windowpane of the building.

"We can leave you to the biters! You'll be ripped to pieces, eaten alive!" she snarled in his face. "Or we can put a bullet through your brain and keep you from coming back. You choose!"

"Fuck you," the man growled weakly, blood dribbling from his mouth as he began to cough violently.

Rick looked at Daryl and nodded once. Daryl understood the man's look without needing any explanation. He dropped the now burnt out match before motioning for Glenn to follow him and the two left the building and didn't take long to find what they were looking for. One of the geeks who had most of his legs in tact had followed the live prey scent up the street and now Daryl and Glenn approached the growling corpse.

"Get the arms. I got the head," Daryl muttered. Glenn pulled a disgusted face but nodded and darted in quickly, snagging the biter's wrists and yanking the arms behind its back while Daryl fisted his hand into its brittle hair and began to lead the creature back towards the building at arm's length, forcing it to follow. The rest of the group skittered back like frightened birds as they came back inside except for Fox and Rick who now hauled the man all the way to his feet and forced him to stand while Daryl and Glenn shoved the biter towards the wounded soldier.

"How about now?" Rick snarled as the geek's teeth clicked furiously as dead eyes bugged out of its skull as it strained to get at the bleeding man, the skin beginning to tear and black blood starting to drip over Glenn's hands as the creature's arms rebelled at being restrained.

The man squirmed violently but Fox smashed his head against the window pane so hard that the glass spider-webbed but didn't quite shatter. He coughed and sputtered, blood bubbling through his lips, the last bit of color, and resistance, draining from his skin as Daryl and Glenn brought the biter's mouth very close to his face.

"Alright, alright, please! Get that thing away from me!" the man squealed.

"Where did they take the kids?" Rick demanded again. "The two girls from today, where did your group take them!"

"Colorado! Back to the base in the Rocky Mountains!" He struggled to draw his breath. "It's not my fault, it's Jenner! It's all Jenner's fault, I didn't want to hurt those kids, they're still alive, I promise, they'll be ok, it's not like you think, please, don't do this…don't let them eat me!" He was sobbing through his retching coughs and Fox let go of his throat and Rick released his shoulder. He slithered to the ground and Daryl and Glenn hauled the biter a few feet further back but didn't let go.

"Rick, they're coming," Maggie warned from where she was keeping watch next to the door.

The sheriff nodded to her and then looked back at the man at his feet. "What the hell do they want with our kids?" he demanded.

The soldier looked up at him with glazed eyes. "I don't know. I swear I don't, they just tell us to get them if they're teenagers or younger! I don't know why…the doctor needs them for some reason…it's not my fault, please!" The man began to panic as they all heard the sounds of the incoming horde approaching the building.

"I believe you," Rick said looking down at the man. He reached his hand forward and took Carl's gun due to its silencer and pressed it to the man's temple. The man's eyes were wide open and gleaming with terror when Rick squeezed the trigger and the muted shot pinged softly through the building and the man slumped to the side, blood smearing against the glass as he lay motionless.

"Let's go," he growled.

They all darted out the door after killing the biter they'd used as a threat, running quickly for the vehicles, easily outpacing the herd that was forming, especially since many of them were distracted by the fresh kill. Daryl felt the difference in the way Fox was gripping him as they wheeled the convoy back out of town and towards the highway. He could practically feel her rage, and her fear, and all the horror that they thought they had left behind came roaring to meet them both as they chased their nightmare deep into the night.


	6. Chapter 6

_**My dearest readers and reviewers, I am back! I'm so sorry for taking so long to update, I have been away on vacation with my best friend and we were out every day getting into all kinds of adventures which left me no time to write, but I am indeed still alive and now that I'm back into my usual routine I will hopefully be able to update for you much more regularly now. I do hope you can forgive me, and I hope I haven't lost too many of you in the wait. **_

**Brittney**: _Dammit! How do you have me so hooked? It was Jenner and the girls are bring choppered off to Atlanta. I am in awe of your writing skills and the rude person that commented doesn't have any idea what talent is if he is disrespecting you and your stories. If you ever write a book I'd buy it to read :)_

Its reviews like these that enable me to shake off any and all ignorant and hateful comments. I know every artists/writer goes through undue criticism but it still stings a little, but thank you so much for your support, it really means a lot, and I hope the story keeps you hooked in!

**Emberka-2012**: _Scientists-losers captured not ordinary girls. I doubt that for kidnappers all will go on a good road. I'm willing to bet that this pair of girls gives them more of a nuisance than all previously captured hostages. Escape failed, but they were told where them going to take and they were able to leave a message for the family. This is a plus. And their parents now know where to start looking. Honestly in fanfiction on TWD I really do not like such scientists as Milton and Jenner, who naively want the good to all mankind. Do not like it because they do not see what they do with other people to achieve their purpose. Milton was so surprised that they attempted to escape. He thought they like to be captive?_

They certainly do have a pair of fighters on their hands, and neither Judith or Luna are going down without giving it their best shot. Judith knew when they'd been beat, and so she did the best she could to leave a clue for her family, believing that they'll come for them no matter what. Scientists walk a fine line, they can do extraordinary things for the betterment of humanity, but sometimes that has a terrible price, and there's plenty of real life examples from history to prove this. I don't think Milton was so much surprised that they tried to escape, but as to how close they got to succeeding.

**WinterIsComing01**: _Jenner. I knew it. Well...this was certainly action-packed. I'm VERY intrigued by the new CDC location in Atlanta; so are they going to ATL, or to Colorado? Well these two girls certainly put up one hell of a fight, didn't they? Now Milton et al. understand what they have on their hands, and that it's not going to be an easy time with them. Hey, you might have mentioned this early on but why the switch from "walker" to "biter"?_

Jenner's up to his old tricks again ;) The girls were snatched from Wyoming, taken to Colorado, and now being shipped off to Atlanta. And of course they put up one hell of a fight, neither of them have an ounce of cowardice in their body, the last thing they'd do was roll over and take this treatment lying down. Ah, the switching of the terms. Part of it is because I use them interchangeably, but also when writing Luna, her sign for the zombies is clicking her teeth together like they do when they're feeding, hence 'biter' so when writing from her perspective that's typically the term I use. Any other switching is just because I like to mix it up a little every now and then.

**FanFicGirl10**: _Intense! I applaud Luna and Judith's failed attempt to escape because even though they didn't succede they still have a fighting spirit in them like their parents. I hope the others find the clues left behind and get to them soon. I can't wait to see if Merle will be making an apperance soon. Great chapter, Update Soon!_

Oh of course they were going to escape, and they'll keep trying until they either break out or they die basically. There is no force in heaven or hell that will keep them from at least trying to get back to their family, much like their parents and the rest of the group will stop at nothing to get them back. Ohhhh Merle, he'll be along soon enough, along with someone else from the show that I'm super excited to bring in ;)

**CenaGrace**: _AHHHH! I finally started reading this! I love it! I've only read one other TWD fic that had someone with a disability. (If you're interested it's called Reasons Why My Heart Still Beats, or something like that.) Have to say that I'm totally shocked Maggie and Glenn didn't breed. I understand the reason you used for it but i cant help but think survivors would be thinking about breeding and population would be totally needed. Or at least I would. Lol. Hopefully Carl finds himself a lady. I love Carl in this! I'm still wrapping my mind around them being older! Rick would be like in his early fifties! WOW! Anyways, I can't wait for the next chapter. :)_

In some ways this world doesn't afford for people who are disabled much chance to survive and it's kind of like Darwin's survival of the fittest, but I wanted to try it anyway, I wanted that extra challenge and also because eventually, after all these years later, the survivors have pretty much figured out how to make it in this world, and so having someone in their group with a disability would be a hurdle but not one that is impossible to overcome. As far as Maggie and Glenn not having kids, I thought about it for a while, and in truth they probably would have for population reasons, but after everything that happened with Lori and the risk childbirth brings…it really could have gone either way. Oh Carl, I seriously want to have him find some kind of resolution and fulfillment in his life, because after what happened with Lori and now Judith being taken away on his watch as well, he really needs it. I have plans for him for certain, you'll just have to see what they are ;) Man I hear ya, I'm the writer and even I'm still having to get my head around them being so much older. It's crazy!

**RedneckBunny**: _Ugh... I don't think I could grab a zombie like Glenn and Daryl did. I sensed you were bringing back Colorado and Jenner and all but dang-it-all anyway. I was surprised though when they said the CDC building in Atlanta was rebuilt. I'm excited to see what you do in the next chapter. The awesomeness keeps on coming._

You know, a lot of people say they don't know if they could do XY and Z but when it came right down to it…you never really know. But then again, Glenn and Daryl both have done a lot of dangerous, crazy, risky things in the service of the group, so I'd say its certainly possible for them to use a biter to threaten someone. As far as Atlanta goes, you guys will have to wait and see what I have planned, I hope you like it as much as I do, I've worked hard on it, and I don't think it'll be anything you guys are expecting, or at least I hope not xD

**Sophie**:_ Alright. I shamelessly admit that I have been an avid reader of both 'wildflower' and 'wolfsong' for months now and I am so far beyond obsessed its not funny. You are my all time favourite creative writer to date. Well, fucking, done. I'm terrible at visualising characters in my was however, could you possibly post photos or describe more indepthly what fox, Luna and Judith look like?_

Such wonderful words I cannot be worthy of, but I love that you give them to me nonetheless, thank you for that. I totally understand the difficulty in visualizing characters, I try to be as descriptive as I can but you can only do so much without visual aids. As far as Fox is concerned, I liken her like a cross between Dagmara Dominczyk (an actress Reedus worked with in a film called Tough Luck) and the musician/frontwoman Lzzy Hale of Halestorm. On Luna, I wish I had the model's name but I have searched high and low and found nothing, but I liken her to the girl that is on the cover of the Strange Angel books by Lili St. Crow, if you google them the pictures will come up (awesome series by the way.) As far as Judith…I have yet to find someone who I think really looks like her, but if I do, I will certainly let you know.

**Jerrie Higarashi**: _Dammit! So fucking close but they didn't make it! Argh! Oh and one more question? Why'd yu switch from 'walkers' to 'biters'? I liked walkers better but thats just me, lol. Anyways, awesome chapter as always!_

I know, sooooo close, and yet so far xD I've actually had someone else ask me that too, and the reason being is that I typically just use them interchangeably, but when Luna signs for the zombies, she clicks her teeth together like how they do when they're feeding, hence biters, and so when writing from her POV that's typically what I use.

**ObjectiveObserverFromAfar**: _I haven't gotten to review yet but this has me on the edge of my seat. I loved Wildflower and I am loving what you have done with Luna in this story. She is such a mix of Daryl and Fox it's amazing. I'll keep loyally reading. No critiques (I'm not worthy enough to do that to you!). You are an amazing writer :)_

Why hello there new reviewer, thanks for dropping in with such sweet words! Every writer can be given critiques, but I'm so flattered you have yet to find any in my work, but please if you do, don't hesitate to bring them up.

**CobaltCobain**: _WOW! What an INTENSE chapter! It's such a shame Milton is in the 'wrong' kind of place. I mean, he has such an interesting character, but I guess that just like in the TV Show, he's looking to do greater good. It's justifiable in his mind, I guess. I wonder if he's going to have a redemption. I wonder why they need young people though. Babies that were born after the outbreak to see if they are immune? I wonder what Benji meant when he said they are learning. Couldn't that just be like a response to the noise and the fire, the smell? They were supposed to be mechanical after all. But if they are 'evolving' at some point that means that it probably comes from the traits developed by the humans after the outbreak (I highly doubt that a walker would survive almost 20 years without eating) so their brain is not QUITE damaged? Oh I'm daydreaming, but can't wait how you explain all these ;) "This voice was cool and disdainful and when Judith jerked her head up from where she was being restrained on the ground she saw a man standing above her, but unlike those she was familiar with. His skin was darker, the shape of his facial features was different, and the lilt to his voice suggested an accent, although what kind she couldn't label" This sentence got me off guard. Have we met Martinez before? Why is he familiar to Judith? I don't remember... O_O As always, great chapter. I LOVE Daryl's protectiveness and his strength to fight over his family. Although it's pretty clear they've grown colder there in the mountains. And now that they've lost what they care about the most... god, it's gonna be a blood massacre, right? Can't wait to see more of Carl too. It's getting really interesting! I hope you are doing good! Update soon!_

Milton when he was first in the show came across to me as utterly spineless and totally kill-worthy, and I figured they would ax him at some point, but as the season progressed it became clearer there was a deeper side to him, and I'm looking forward to exploring that more in my story. Milton, and scientists in general, have the ability to do so much good, but things can go so wrong at the same time, and there is always the question of do the ends justify the means? As far as why they're snatching younger people, that shall be revealed in time ;) As far as Benjy's musing on the possibility of the Walkers being capable of learning, that too is something that I will delve deeper into later on ;) Ahhhhh, when I threw Martinez in, I was plucking him from the show, assuming most people would know/remember him as one of the Governor's henchmen, and one of the only ones he didn't kill at the end of Season 3. His dialogue with Daryl in 'Arrow on the Doorpost' offered a little glimpse into who he might be as a more developed character, so I intend to explore that a little in my story. Ohhh yes, when the group catches up to those who stole Luna and Judith, it's not going to be pretty. Fox's outright rage combined with Daryl's fear and possessiveness, and let's not forget Rick's desperation to keep what's left of his family safe, plus the whole group's desperate clinging to each other, it is not going to be pretty when the opposing forces clash. Carl is becoming a favorite wildcard of mine to experiment with and I really enjoy the different prospects of where his character can go, and I've got lots of ideas swirling around for him so we'll see how it plays out ;)

**Sage**: _Remember me? I did your fanart! I've been grounded for quite some time, and I was just ungrounded Monday. I had your account bookmarked on my phone, and I screamed when I saw you had your sequel up! You're doing better than ever! This is amazing! It makes me wish you could give me writing lessons or something. I'm still writing (about zombies) and I plan on putting a story up here. Anyways, beautiful work. I've got my lame phone back, so I can't do any more edits for the time being. I'm getting an iPhone this summer, and I promise to do TONS of edits. I've already got a few ideas written down and some floating around in my head... thank you! _

Of course I remember you! How could I not, you who did such wonderful fan art for me! Lol, I got a scream? Yay! I was so hoping that people would be excited for my sequel, and I'm glad to see that's indeed the case. Hah, as if I could ever give writing lessons, but if you ever want me to read/beta your work, don't hesitate to ask! And no, thank you for being such an awesome reader!

**Guest**: _dude ): why the excruciatingly long wait for an update ): come on now_

I know, I'm so sorry about the super long wait! I've been away on vacation and right when I got back my summer classes for school started AND I'm working full time, so I have certainly been a busy bee, but I'll hopefully be able to update more regularly now.

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The helicopter had stopped to refuel three times since they'd left Colorado. Each time the machine typically landed in an empty field where a massive truck was waiting to supply them with gasoline, rimmed with guards all armed with guns. During each stop Luna and Judith were hauled out to stretch their muscles and take care of physical needs, very closely guarded by the soldiers. Luna kept a very close, very wary eye on all of them.

"This is bigger than we thought," Luna signed to Judith on the third stop. "Where are they getting all of these resources?"

Judith eyes lacked an answer, not that Luna had thought she would have one. She'd never seen this many different people before, and though she felt nervous and hemmed in, she refused to let it show, bristling and all but growling whenever someone got too close for her comfort. On their stops however they were also fed, which was something to be grateful for, considering that she'd been starving this entire time and helped her feel more like herself, at least physically. The beating she'd sustained in the mountain base had taken its toll on her, but the more she moved, the more she limbered up. The pain in her ribs had begun to ease slightly and so she reasoned, or at least hoped, that the bones and muscles were just bruised and not broken. The whole trip Judith had stayed right against her side, never moving more than a few feet away, even as they both kept a vigilant, angry watch on their captors.

Milton wouldn't come within a few yards distance of either of them until it was time to get back in the chopper. He seemed perpetually frightened of them, as though at any second they might lunge forward and try to rip his head off his shoulders. The idea certainly appealed to Luna and as they loaded up in the chopper for what they were told was the final time, she fixed the soft man with a threatening, Walker-like stare of hunger and madness. When she saw him flinch and shudder she huffed a dark laugh to herself.

"You keep doing that I bet he'll jump out of the chopper before we even get to Atlanta," Judith signed as they lifted off again. Luna's smirk broadened.

"Then maybe I should keep going. No less than he deserves," she replied. She fixed Milton that same unholy stare and clicked her teeth at him, half darting towards him but Judith kept a hand on her shoulder to hold her back even as Milton recoiled wildly and pressed himself back into the opposite wall of the chopper.

"Would you please put a leash on her or something?" Milton whined as Luna continued trying to inch and creep towards him, still fixing him with that stare and hungry clicking sound of her teeth meeting each other. She could only go so far from being chained to the floor of the chopper, but it was far too close for Milton's liking.

Judith tugged Luna back towards her. "Ease off. Let's see what we can get him to tell us, hm?" she signed. Luna rolled her eyes and kicked her feet out in front of her, obviously disinterested in the idea but relenting on freaking Milton out. It could be said Judith was the brains and she was the brawns of any operations that they found themselves in, and Luna was content for it to stay that way. She had inherited that sense of blunt, straightforward way of doing things from her father.

"Was she raised by wolves or something?" Milton asked, half joking and half serious, but his tone was still colored with anxiety and suspicion. Luna could see it written all over his face and in the tense way his lips moved and his eyes darted in their sockets.

Judith rolled her eyes. "No," was the terse reply. "But since she can't rip your heart out of your chest with her bare hands without putting us in danger, she'll settle for bothering you however she can."

Milton eyed Luna carefully who would not grace his look with one of her own. "I wonder if her lack of social skills is due to her deafness or to being isolated away from a large population of other people."

Judith tilted her head and looked back at Milton with so much contempt it was practically oozing through her pores. "Lack of social skills? Did we snatch your kids off the streets when they were minding their own business and kidnap them and ship them across the country? You're awful pious, Milton, considering what you or your group did could have gotten you a life sentence in the world that was."

"It wasn't on my orders you were taken, I hope you know," Milton murmured quietly.

Luna had been half watching the movement of Judith and Milton's lips to remain in the loop of the conversation, and now her curiosity was pricked. She shifted, causing Milton to twitch, and she snickered a bit before speaking.

"Why were we taken?"

Milton fixed her with a reserved, almost patronizing look. "My boss needs you," was all he said.

Luna snarled in her throat, too angered to form words of disgust before the sound escaped. Milton jerked away from her again and Judith laid a hand on Luna's wrist for a moment to catch her eye and silently tell her to wait.

"Needs us for what? Who is your boss, what does he do?" Judith asked.

"Edwin Jenner is the one who runs the show now. He's a doctor, formerly employed by the CDC. He's doing research to find a cure for the plague." Milton's eyes darted between his little leather book and the two girls.

Luna's lips twisted into an expression of disgust. "I have a cure," she sneered. She held up her hand in the shape of a gun and aimed it straight at Milton's head before tipping her fingers back, just like the recoil of firing a powerful handgun would have done. It pleased her to see Milton's skin crawl as she did so.

"We're trying for something a little less violent," was Milton's reply. "The doctor needs people in your generation to test his developments on."

Judith bared her teeth. "So we're the lab-rats," she spat coldly.

Luna looked at her with confusion and asked her through a sign what she meant. Judith thought about it for a second before replying. "Like target practice for the doctor's 'cure.'"

Luna wrinkled her nose. "He picked the wrong bulls-eye," she answered Judith and didn't bother speaking for Milton's benefit.

"So if I may ask, how many were in your group?" Milton questioned, meeting both teenager's eyes as he did so, but he preferred to focus on Judith more so than Luna.

"Family," Luna growled. "Not group." She leaned her head back and shut her mouth, content not to say anything else. Judith watched her close her eyes and thought about it for a while longer and reasoned it might be better not to give everything away to someone who wasn't the boss. If they could get access to this Jenner…they might have a shot at putting themselves in a position to gain their freedom.

"How come you want to know?" Judith questioned.

"It's my job to know as much about the incoming test-subjects as possible. It's important to try and isolate as many variables as we can to find what's similar or what's different so if there are anomalies from the testing we have somewhere to start." Milton looked at her through his glasses, his eyes calculating but also calmer. Judith might have dared to say he looked almost friendly, but she didn't buy it for one second. She remembered the crunch of his nose against her knuckles and she flexed her fingers at the memory of the sweet pain.

"What makes you think that you can do this? That you have a right to do this?" Judith asked softly. "And don't give me that crap about how it's Jenner that is calling the shots. You could have let us go. You chose not to. What right do you have to take us away from our family and hold us against our will?"

Milton sighed and looked up from his book. "It's for the betterment of all of us," was his quiet answer.

Luna tilted her head up and looked at him again. She had been watching his answers to Judith's questions, her curiosity unable to be helped despite her desire to remain aloof. There was nothing in her eyes except a boiling sense of anger and contempt for his spineless words however, and she refused to be shy about pointing it out. "You're lying. I can see it in you."

"If I were you, I'd keep your mouth shut about things you don't understand. What Jenner's doing is for the good of what's left of the human race. You just don't understand the scope of it, and I'm not surprised, living like animals out in the hills, it's a wonder you can speak at all." Milton's voice was scathing, but Luna didn't need to hear it to sense the very thin coating of anxiety over the words. She could see it in the way his throat tightened, the way his eyes darted, she could almost smell the tang of fear coming from him.

Judith tensed beside her sister, thinking that she might try to lash out. Luna did not take kindly to being insulted, or challenged, but to her surprise the deaf girl snorted with sneering laughter.

"You're still lying." Luna looked Milton fully in the face, enunciating every word as clearly as she could. "You're spitting out the words Jenner told you to, but you don't believe it. I see through you, Milton. You think me being deaf is a disadvantage? I don't get weighed down by the noise of other people's lies. Save your pretty words. They're wasted on me."

Luna tipped her head back and closed her eyes, clearly not interested in saying anymore. Judith sighed quietly to herself. Luna had no understanding of the subtleties of conversation or mental game-play. Her sign language didn't allow for it as much, but especially she had been taught this way from her father. Her mother was more prone to play mental games and to be elusive in her conversation, keeping those she spoke to on their toes and holding them hostage to confusion if she saw fit. Luna had no such desires, if anything it frustrated her when someone didn't understand what she was trying to say. Judith on the other hand saw the value in gathering as much information as she could, no matter how foggy and misconstrued it might have been in this particular setting, and so she decided to play along with Milton for the time being.

"Including us, there are nine in our family," she answered.

Milton scribbled something, presumably her answer, in his little book. "Their names?" he asked. If Judith had to guess she would say he sounded almost hopeful, which confused her, but she allowed the moment to pass.

"My father, Rick Grimes. My brother, Carl Grimes. Luna's parents, Fox and Daryl Dixon. Maggie and Glenn Rhee, and Benjamin."

"Have you all been together since the initial outbreak?" Milton questioned, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his bandaged nose gingerly when they slipped down.

Judith tilted her head back, remembering her father's stories. "No. My father, brother, Daryl, and Glenn were all part of one larger group. Fox, Maggie, and Benjy joined later on. My dad said we were a much larger family at one time." Her eyes narrowed and she stared hard at Milton. "And now we're whittled down again, thanks to you."

Milton sighed and stared back at her. "You will understand one day. Hopefully soon."

Judith twisted her lips into a fiendish snarl. "Doubt it." She tipped her head back and closed her eyes and refused to say anything else. Beside her, Luna's calloused fingers encircled her hand and squeezed gently, a silent reassurance, but as the trip continued the nervousness inside both of them built and built. Every lurch of the helicopter made Luna's stomach clench but finally they began to descend and she nudged Judith to open her eyes. Luna twisted as much as her chains would allow so she could stare out the window, trying to see anything about the place in which they were landing but it was pitch black beneath them. She eventually gave up trying to see anything and turned back to Judith.

"This is where our family used to live," she signed. Her movements were smooth and her face was almost wonderstruck. In some twisted and absolutely bizarre way that she couldn't understand she felt almost reconnected with her missing family members, as though they were not as far away as they really were.

"Most of them," Judith agreed. It was then that Luna recalled that her mother had only lived in Atlanta briefly, and that Benjamin had never set foot inside the city at all. But her father…her father had at least lived in a close proximity…he had known this place all his life. Her heart squirmed and ached inside her chest, a rush of pain and loneliness washing over her like the rapids in the river back home.

"Ladies I should warn you, if you try to escape here…it won't go well for you." Milton spoke for the first time in hours, shifting his position and sending blood back into his legs to alleviate the pins and needles from having been still for too long.

Luna twisted to stare at the man but Judith signed his message for him so he didn't have to repeat it. Luna narrowed her eyes at him. "The sheep does not tell the wolf what to do," she growled.

Milton glared at her. "You are not the big bad wolf, Luna Dixon. And even if you were, what's waiting for you outside the protection of our compound is far more than even you and your little friend could ever begin to imagine. You'd be dead before you made it five miles."

Luna hissed and bared her teeth. She lunged towards Milton, ready to shut him up by force, but the chains on her wrists and ankles that manacled her to the floor and prevented her from reaching him. She thrashed angrily and kicked at him, snapping her teeth.

"We'll see about that," she snarled, her words so thick and rasped in her throat that Milton could hardly understand her.

She turned to Judith and began to sign to her rapidly, moving fast enough so that even though Milton was watching there was no chance he'd ever understand.

"When we land they'll pull me out first, then Milton, then you. As soon as Milton is out I'll go limp when they pull me along. When they do, they'll fall and I can get away and grab Milton. He's important enough they'll do what I say so I don't hurt him. Then we run."

Judith narrowed her eyes. "They might be armed, like they were before. We'll never make it if that's the case."

Luna bared her teeth. "We have to try! If they take us in, we're never getting out!"

Judith winced. She suspected Luna was right, but she was very wary of doing any such rash action. It might end up being that if they caused too much trouble they wouldn't be worth what the doctor intended to use them for and just dispose of them. She voiced this concern to Luna as the chopper began to shudder towards its soon approaching landing.

"You really think anything better is waiting for us in there?" Luna demanded with a quick jerk of her head at Milton who didn't notice because he was busy scribbling in his little book. She turned back to Judith and squeezed her hand firmly. "We have to try."

The chopper landed with a rattling thud and Luna readied herself. She'd put up a fight at first, to make it look good, and when the chopper doors open and two men came to haul her out, she kicked and yowled and thrashed as hard as she could just like everyone expected her too. Milton left the chopper from the other side and he quickly circled around to stand in front of the still struggling Luna who was fighting with every inch of her being to avoid being put into restraints. As soon as Milton was within striking range she twisted and glanced over her shoulder. Judith was free of her restraints and was being pulled out of the chopper.

Luna ceased to struggle, becoming deadweight in the grips of her captors. They staggered forward, not having her expected to give out completely, and as they staggered, she lunged for their weak spots, nailing one right in the knee and the other in the groin even as she fell straight to the concrete. As they doubled over and whined and she scrambled up she threw herself onto Milton who squealed with surprise. She wrangled the now writhing man into a headlock and Milton stilled immediately. One wrong twist and she could snap his neck. Luna couldn't hear their combined heaving breaths but she could feel Milton shuddering against her as he tried not to struggle against her hold.

"Let go!" she yowled to the men who were wrestling with Judith. When nobody moved she fisted her hands against Milton's head. "Let go or he dies right now!" She sounded more than feral, borderline on insane, and with all of the adrenaline slamming into her system she didn't put it past herself to lose control entirely.

The men did as she ordered and released Judith who skittered towards Luna's side. Luna dragged Milton back away from the helicopter and hauled him awkwardly across the roof of the building so she could peer down at what was below. A wide sloping lawn that was empty and devoid of any kind of motion. In the distance she could see massive structures, their sides glinting in the moonlight. Trees dotted the landscape, their leaves rustling quietly in the breeze now that the spinning blades of the helicopter had died off.

"Luna what the hell are you doing?" Judith demanded, her signs very choppy because her fingers were shaking so badly. Luna jerked her head over the side of the roof and Judith followed her gaze. About ten feet down was a small overhang of tiles and about ten feet below that was a pipe that led straight to the ground.

"Oh you cannot be serious!" Judith's expression was that of disbelief and terror. Luna flashed her a wicked smirk, an exact copy of her mother's expression when she was about to do something devious, and turned to the squirming man in her grip.

"Don't jump! You'll never make it out of the city alive!" Milton panted. "The Walkers will tear you apart! There's too many of them, you won't survive the night!"

But Luna couldn't hear his warning and Judith was too busy trying to figure a way to get them out of this alive to translate into signs what he had said. But somehow even if she had, it was questionable whether Luna would have listened to her regardless. Luna sucked in a deep breath and turned back to the guards who were keeping a distance of about ten feet, circling warily as she still had a death grip on Milton. Five more seconds ticked by and she turned him loose, kicking and shoving him away so he stumbled towards the waiting men. She didn't hesitate; with one last look at Judith she vaulted over the low wall of the roof.

The free-fall had her heart leaping up into her throat, electric currents of fear and panicky thrills tingling over her palms and the bottoms of her feet as she plunged down. She yowled with unrepressed excitement as even more adrenaline flooded her system. When her feet hit the tiny tiled overhang her knees buckled with the force of the impact but she had learned as a child jumping out of trees to just go with the motion. Her hands came forward to catch herself before she could go pitching off the overhang and as quickly as she could she gathered herself and leapt again, this time towards the side of the building. She yelped with surprise as the impact of her fingers snatching at the piping sent shockwaves of pain through her hands and wrists. She grunted with the force and scrabbled her feet on the side of the building, the pipe holding steady as she hoped. She slid and scrambled and scraped her way down, cutting the side of her wrist on a bolt and scraping her forearms on the rough brick building. Five feet from the ground she let go and tumbled free, her legs giving out on impact. She rolled to her side and shoulder to lessen the blow and came up cleanly, her hands snatching fistfuls of dry, dead grass before flinging them down to the ground. She twisted backwards and looked up and saw Judith had followed her and was already climbing the pipe down the side of the building. Luna couldn't hear the raucous voices of the guards as they watched in utter disbelief as the two girls escaped again, the second time in half as many days. Judith flung herself from the building and landed next to Luna who grabbed her by the shoulders and hauled her to her feet. They clutched each other for a moment before taking off like bats out of hell, heading straight for the trees and buildings in the distance to hide out of the moonlight.

The air was cool but still tasted of humidity and warmed stone as they fled. Luna twisted at the very edge of the tree line to see if they were being pursued. There was no sign of them being followed but that was a secondary discovery. The first was their location. There on the side of the building they had just flung themselves from was spelled out Center for Disease Control. So they had been taken to the CDC after all. There was no time to ponder any of that now, all they needed to do now was run. Run and escape this city before anybody changed their minds and came for them. Judith hurried her along, grabbing her by the wrist and pulling her until she moved on her own volition.

They crashed through the narrow copse of trees that rimmed the edge of the CDC property before spilling out onto a deserted road, abandoned cars trailing off every which way, some of them deserted in the ditch, some of them dead right where their previous owners had been driving them, but the common theme was that there was no way to drive any of them out of here, Luna could tell just by the rust and deflated tires these cars had been sitting here for longer than she'd been alive. Most of them had their doors open and she could see battered, predominantly unusable possessions spilling out of them.

"We need weapons," Judith signed to her. Luna nodded but she pointed up to the sky towards the moon and then lowered her hand. Judith understood. They needed a sense of direction as well, a way to get wherever the hell they were going which Judith assumed was out of Atlanta, back towards their home. Their parents had taught them when they were children how to navigate even at night via the stars and the moon but in this case they began to use the former, as they had been unable to see the moon when it rose which would have given them a clue as to their directions. Luna located the north star with little trouble, her razor sharp eyesight used to such tasks. She knew Atlanta was east of their home so as soon as she oriented herself, she turned west and began to walk, Judith following right behind her.

"We're heading further into the city," she hissed as the looming skyscrapers slowly began to become larger. Both girls knew that was a bad idea, but if through the city was the fastest way to get the hell out of reach of Jenner and his minions, Luna was willing to take the risks.

"They'll be less tempted to come after us if we use the city for cover," she signed to Judith. Judith nodded but Luna could easily see she was definitely perturbed by the idea. As they walked the desolate road, they stopped at any car whose doors weren't open, trying to pilfer for weapons but after such a long time there was nothing left, and all the while they were getting closer and closer to the city. The world was washed in ghostly silver and black hues and every twitch of the shadows made Luna's skin crawl. She stayed very close to Judith, relying on her to hear anything that might have been approaching, or following.

They rounded the bend of the road and came across a car that had long since wrecked, but on it Luna saw an opportunity for a weapon. She signed to Judith for her to follow and they carefully made their way down the deep embankment of the ditch to the car. On the driver's side the frame was completely mangled and near where the door was the metal had all but been ripped free entirely thanks to its impact into a very sturdy tree. Luna approached slowly, her breath catching in her throat, her eyes straining to see any kind of motion. She felt naked, completely exposed to the outside world and all the dangers it possessed. She'd of felt better if she had her gun, or even a knife, but what truly would have given her peace of mind would have been her parents at her side. She wished she could feel their steady presence behind her, assuring her that she could do this, that she could handle anything that might be about to jump out and grab her, but all she had was herself and Judith and she forced herself to remember that she should be grateful her sister was with her. Her hands were shaking as she got closer, Judith following right on her shoulder, keeping a watchful eye and both ears on the situation.

Luna grasped the sharply curved piece of metal that was hanging off the frame of the car that had once been part of the door. After getting a careful grip so as to not cut herself she leaned back and pulled. The metal slowly began to pry away from the frame of the car, rust and years of decay and exposure to the weather making it weak enough to do so. She grunted and bit her lip as sweat began to break out on her brow as she continued pulling, digging her feet in as hard as she could. She could feel it beginning to the give, the splintered edge that was prying away from the car becoming thinner and thinner, it just needed a little more force. She let go of the piece of metal before quickly shrugging out of her shirt and wrapping it around her hands as a protective covering. She then gripped the metal and pulled as hard as she could, no longer threatened with slicing her hand open. With one last massive tug that ripped the middle of her shirt the metal came free and she tumbled back into the damp embankment, cool grass and earth colliding with her back as the metal finally came loose.

"What the hell was that all about?" Judith demanded as Luna quickly scrambled back into her shirt that was now cut up along the belly but it was of little consequence. Luna snatched up the piece of metal she'd yanked free, the 'blade' which certainly looked sharp enough to stab someone to death about the length of her middle finger to about halfway down her palm, the rest of the metal still maintaining the folded over edges where the door had once sat in its frame. Luna then rummaged in the trees, finding a suitable stick to slide in the frame of the metal along with a length of kudzu vine which she ripped the leaves off and cut to size. This she tied around the handle of the stick and the folded over edge of the metal, securing the handle of the blade to the metal.

"Home job, but it's enough," Luna murmured. She quickly swung the weapon and was pleased when she could feel the way it cut the air. It was nothing like the balance of her knife but it would have to do.

They climbed back up out of the ditch and resumed heading west. Judith was keeping an eye out for anything she could use as a weapon, even making one like Luna had, and she was just about to try with a piece of shattered glass that was lying on the edge of the road when she heard something. She stopped immediately and held her breath, touching Luna's wrist to call her attention. Luna paused and held still knowing that Judith could hear something she couldn't.

Judith turned back towards the east and at first saw nothing but she could hear a very slow shuffling sound, something being scraped over concrete or metal. She strained to see in the darkness but at first saw nothing, and she could barely hear over the hammer of her heart in her throat. Luna frantically snatched at her hand and pulled her back away from the car she'd been about to try and pick through. From underneath it a Walker was trying to scrape its way towards them, rotted skin left behind on the asphalt as its ruined jaws clicked together, matted, scraggly hair tangling in its face as its eyeball-less sockets turned towards them. Luna backed them away as fast as she could but when she looked up her blood ran like ice in her veins. A herd was headed towards them, blocking their retreat back the way they'd come, hemming them closer to the city. They spilled out from under the cars, from within them, from the trees, staggering up the steep slope that marked the ditch, all pressing closer to the sound of food, driven mad and mindless with an all consuming hunger.

The two girls turned and fled, racing towards the fast approaching city, fleeing the herd as fast as their feet could carry them, knowing that the only way to escape them was to outrun them. That was the only saving grace about Walkers. If you could outrun them and outpace their ability to hear, your odds were better. Both Judith and Luna knew this well and they ran flat out up the highway, racing towards the city, the trees quickly giving way to more buildings but the skyscrapers were still some ways in the distance. The moonlight died as stone and steel surrounded them and they finally skittered to a halt down an empty street. Judith leaned against a building, nursing a stitch in her side, and Luna was almost doubled over on her knees. They gasped for their breath as but they knew better than to think they were safe for long. They had to keep moving but this time at a walk as Luna struggled to stay oriented in the maze of streets and buildings. She wasn't used to such close quarters. The air felt wrong here, heavy and thick with what smelt like rain, almost suffocating it was so close. Not like the air at home with its brisk mountain breezes and smell of cooled stone.

They kept moving, skirting anything that moved, doubling back several times when they saw crowded streets of Walkers. Their hearts beat like hammer strikes in their throats and Luna clutched her homemade knife close, almost jumping out of her skin every time Judith accidently bumped her or a shadow fluttered on the edge of a corner.

"We have to keep moving!" Judith hissed. She pulled on Luna's arm and directed her attention towards a small group of biters that was pursuing them from the opposite side of the street.

"We can't!" Luna signed frantically. The corner they'd been trying to round was chock full of the shuffling corpses, all of them ambling along harmlessly enough but Luna knew the minute they sensed their presence they would certainly tear them apart.

Luna turned away from the more crowded street and began to ready herself to deal with the smaller group that was pressing in on them but at that moment the breeze shifted and picked up its pace and blew directly through the crowded street. Luna watched with horror as the biters slowly began to turn in their direction, their rotted faces turned towards the smell of living meat. They all began to growl and groan angrily, shambling in their direction, jaws gnashing hungrily, ruined throats wheezing air through rotted vocal cords.

Luna snarled with frustration and launched herself at the smaller of the two mobs. Their only chance was to hopefully cut their way through the smaller group and then make a break for it before the herd picked up momentum. She swung her homemade knife and was relieved when it bit easily through flesh and bone and stabbed clean into the brain of a biter. It dropped and she launched herself backwards before two more could lay their grimy, crumbling hands on her.

Judith snatched up a piece of brick that was lying in the gutter and bashed a biter in the head. The skull gave way easily under the pressure and the monster fell back, forever dead. Luna sliced two more across the face but she could feel the presence of the herd behind her, swarming, pulling them in. She grabbed for Judith's hand and took off running, yanking her sister between two corpses before they could close in and tear her to pieces.

They fled, their feet pounding in the same frantic rhythm as they dodged a few stragglers and ran down a very dark side street, swinging west when a turn afforded them the ability, and they kept going. Judith could hear the shuffling scramble of dead feet behind them, closing in with every desperate heartbeat. They swung up a dark ally and pelted forward towards an intersection, the herd just behind them. Shadows blurred with the gritty texture of the ground and brick of the crumbling buildings surrounding them, weeds and grasses puncturing the concrete like wispy fingers brushing their ankles as they ran for their lives. No moonlight penetrated this dark place and the starlight above them was a dim relic of visibility. Fear clogged Luna's senses as she struggled to see and to figure out how to make it out alive. They darted into the open space of the intersection when Judith all but screamed with fear. On both sides and behind them were herds of the undead, arms outstretched, ravenous mouths open, torn open bodies trailing entrails as they blindly staggered towards the two girls as fast as their bony feet could take them.

"We're trapped!" Judith yelped, unable to sign but Luna could read her terrified lips. Luna was about to protest but she saw with a sickening squeeze of fear in her chest that there were yet more Walkers headed for them from the front. They were hemmed in on all four sides. She was looking frantically for the clearest street to make a break for it when her eyes fell on an irregularity on the street in front of them. One of the manholes was uncovered, not by much, but it was enough. They'd be running straight for the worst of the hordes, they might not make it, but spinning in circles in the intersection was sure to be their last moments on earth unless they tried. She snarled and grabbed Judith's wrist, pelting forward, the stiff concrete slamming into her feet and ankles as she yanked Judith along and ran for their lives. The horde was coming ever closer, swarms of them like overgrown insects just waiting to rip them to shreds looming so close Luna could practically see each and every vein beneath their paper-thin skin.

"Down!" Luna yelled as she shoved Judith towards the uncovered manhole. The mob was too close, they weren't going to make it- franticly Luna slashed with her knife. She kicked one biter away, shoving the monstrosity back while she whirled and slashed another, stabbing the rusty curved metal through its temple. She screamed with terror when hands grabbed her arms and shoulders, bony fingers fisting into her clothing, straining mouths pulling her towards ravenous teeth. Those deadly teeth were mere inches from skin, straining, pulling, spittle flying as she struggled, thrashing wildly, limbs pin wheeling until a hand grabbed her ankle and yanked with tremendous force, dragging her beneath the street into suffocating darkness.


	7. Chapter 7

_**Good lord my friends, it's been forever, but at last we are back! Feel free to chase after me with torches and pitchforks for being such a bad author and taking so long to get this update to you. I do confess I was having issues with this story. I was conflicted about several key points of it and I was almost ready to shelve it as a lost cause, but I gritted my teeth and pushed through, because I owe it to you guys who have been so freaking amazing to me. So here we are, ready to go again. I will do my ultimate best to be more timely about updates. I can't promise anything due to how busy I am, but I will try. Also, to the anonymous person who left nasty insults as 'reviews' on every one of my chapters...that's just pathetic. You didn't even have anything negative to say about the story itself, just about me. You don't even know me you waste of space with ego issues. Grow a pair and sign your name on that shit with a real account or I'll just keep deleting your trash. Alright, rant over. Enjoy the update guys, it's a bit of a longer one to try and make up for how long it took! **_

**ObjectiveObserverFromAfar**: _Loved this chapter! Ah! I'm so glad they escaped. I'm hoping Milton gains a little more of a spine at some point, I truly believe he has more of a conscious than he lets anyone see but I will wait to see what you do with him. As for the girls, since they have never really seen a city before will you explore some of their emotions and feelings of being in a place like Atlanta? Sure, it's been 17-years and I'm sure the place is decayed...but it would be interesting to see what they think about it. Just curious... Gah, I wish I could write like you. Your writing just has a lovely fluidity to it and your ideas are so original. If you ever decide to give a writing workshop let me know. :) Brava to you!_

Milton will find his spine eventually, let's just hope he does before it's too late like in the show ;) Of course I'll explore the sharp contrast and emotionality that being in a place like Atlanta will bring out in the girls. I'm from a very small, very rural town, and when I moved into the metropolitan area I live now…it definitely was a shock and took getting used to, so I'm looking forward to bringing some of that into Luna and Judith as they adjust to the city. I thank you most kindly for your praise. If I were to ever be so honored as to lead a writing workshop or something similar, I would surely let you know =) I hope one day I inspire others to write, regardless of their level of skill, as other authors have inspired me.

**FanFicGirl10**:_Yay The Sweet Escape! I hope someone saves them soon, maybe Merle or Michonne or Tyreese *wink wink* Cliffhanger, Update Soon!_

Hehe, you will just have to wait and see my friend!

**rosemarycr**: _LOOK. I became sickly obsessed with Wildflower. I'm reading it for the third time now, and it's still the best fucking fanfic I've ever read. Hell, it's one of the best stories I've ever read. NOW, how do you DARE to make me obsessed with this too? Are you trying to ruin my life? At least with Wildflower I kind of knew what to expect (well not really), but now I feel blind. Honestly, you should adapt this to a book, or write one with characters based on your OC's because you, my friend are awesome. I can't wait to the next chapter!_

Wow. That's just craziness to me. A third time on Wildflower, really? It's like…almost 500 pgs. That kind of dedication blows me clean out of the water. I'm speechless and so grateful. And to have you say you are obsessed with Wolfsong too just makes me spin into a dimension of Cloud 9 like no other. The trepidation with which I approached this story was unlike any I've ever felt, but responses like this make it so worth it =) Thank you so much for writing in!

**RedneckBunny**: _WHAT THE FU-WHA-BUT- WHY WOULD YOU END THERE YOU EVIL PERSON? That was intense! Amazing! Glad you're back and I'm looking forward to your next chapter! How many chapters are you thinking of making this one?_

Why would I end there? Because I am evil! Mwuahahaha! As to how many chapters Wolfsong will be…I'm foreseeing it to be shorter than Wildflower, but how much shorter, I have no idea. It's still up in the air where this story will go. I have a tentative outline, but there is a lot of room for change as well, so we'll just have to see…

**Emberka-2012**: _So much tension is felt, especially by the end of chapter. To be honest to them was better to run away - chances with walkers they have more than with people. It was not in their nature not to use the escape attempt. And they know how to deal with zombies. Therefore, despite the heavy end, I believe in their salvation. Luna is so funny frightened Milton. Good thing she did not believe him. Luna is so similar at the same time to Fox and Daryl, it's just amazing._

Well they may or may not have a better shot of survival against the Walkers. Atlanta is completely overrun, the CDC offers a measure of protection that I have yet to fully explain (but will do so later) whereas they are fair game to be eaten in the city. However of course they don't want to remain captured, and they were willing to take the risk of Walkers rather than being imprisoned again. Lol, I did throw that bit of comic relief in there of Luna trying to scare Milton for laughs, I'm glad it worked =) Luna is very similar to her parents, she's almost a combo of them together, which is an interesting and unique challenge to write.

**Brittney**:_ *Lets out the breath I was holding* That was SO close! The girls put up a he'll of a fight and were badass :) Update soon! I'm gonna be dying for the next chapter...you're incredible!_

Well thank you for thinking so! I really wanted an 'old school' style of episode that was fraught with more external rather than internal conflict and danger.

**CenaGrace**: _Fantastic cliffhanger! As always. Can't wait for chapter 7!_

I do my best! I'm not naturally inclined to write cliff-hangers so I have to cognitively be aware of a tense place to just stop. I like to resolve things in chapters before moving on, so I have to remind myself overspill of tension is good sometimes.

**Jerrie Higarashi**: _Not the cliffhanger I expected! Though Luna sure does know how to think on her feet when she needs to! That's a great thing! Ugh, Milton is such a bitch... How annoying...I loved how Luna kept scaring him, clicking her teeth together and staring at him, similar to a walker herself... She's so amazing - just like Judith. I really hope they're fine... for some reason, I keep thinking it's the gang who just saved them! I can't wait until you update dear!_

True she does, a skill her family taught her in order to help her survive. Milton is a bit of a bitch and is easily frightened, which Luna takes great pleasure in exploiting because he's royally pissed her off. You'll be surprised at what I have in store for the two of them, at least I hope so!

* * *

Daryl's blood had been hammering in his veins ever since they'd left the small mountain town behind, angling their convoy of vehicles towards Colorado and a God forsaken mountain that he'd hoped he would never see again.

But for as bad as the flash backs and sickening feelings must have been for him, he could only imagine Fox's trepidation and disgust at having to return to the base. They traveled the entire day, only stopping when absolutely necessary, but progress was slow due to the terrible condition of the roads. Pavement and asphalt was being slowly but surely overtaken by nature, grass and trees and earth coming back to claim what had always been theirs, and the uneven nature of the roads, not to mention the debris, made making decent time almost impossible. Twenty years of unmaintained concrete had done a bender on the highways, and the interstate was a no go, every exit they came to was so blocked by stalled vehicles that they couldn't get on. The bike could have made it easily enough, and the thought was gnawing at him worriedly as they finally stopped after sundown, all of them desperately needing to eat and catch a few hours of sleep.

They pulled off a stretch of empty highway where there was nothing on either side of the concrete but open fields. In the distance, maybe six or seven miles, was signs of inhabitation, buildings dotting the area, but they were far enough away from any potential hordes that they were safe enough to build a fire and stretch their limbs. They finished a very meager dinner when Daryl met Rick's eyes across the flames, the rest of their family encircling the smaller flickers of light.

"At this rate we won't reach the base for at least another day. Maybe more." Daryl spoke softly. "Rick…" He stared into the twin eyes of blue green and he tried to gauge if his friend understood.

"What?" It wasn't Rick, but Maggie who asked the question. And it wasn't Daryl who answered, but Fox. He had yet to even voice the thoughts in his head to anybody and yet she knew. She had always known his little internal conflicts, and the reason for his silences. It was almost as if having ridden behind him the whole day she'd been able to feel his frustration through his skin.

"If Daryl and I take the bike, we can be at the base before dawn, we can slip through the debris on the interstate and from there it's a straight shot."

Daryl didn't need to look at her to know her eyes were burning like emerald stones thrown into a bed of coals. He didn't need to see the way the firelight danced along the raised ridges of her white washed scars across the left side of her face. He didn't need to shift his eyes to see the way her mouth tightened, the tendons on her hands rising as her fingers curled to fists in her lap. He didn't have to be sitting next to her to feel the heady thrum of discontent and restlessness, the barely restrained simmer of rage threatening to boil over into an inferno. Even after all night and all day on the road her anger and her possessiveness to reclaim both Luna and Judith had not dissipated in the slightest, not even from physical exertion. It was infectious and frightening, not that he really needed anymore fuel to his runaway wildfire of anger and fear from having Luna and Judith snatched away from him. But he at least was able to keep a lid on it, keep it from leaching through his every movement, every look, every syllable. Fox didn't have that much of a filter. She never had. And now, so blinded by her need to get Luna and Judith back, she was willing to even leave behind the rest of their family in the dust. He had no doubt that if he consented to go with her, she wouldn't have even asked Rick's permission, she would have just taken the bike and left. But Daryl knew Rick was far more likely to see a better way…if there was one.

"No." Rick's answer was as Daryl suspected it would be, and in a way he was glad. If Rick had been amendable to it, he would not have regretted leaving the group behind for a while to rescue Luna and Judith and rejoining them when they caught up, but he was also glad that regardless of what would happen, they would weather the storm as they had always done. Together.

Fox however was not so easily satiated, and Daryl had known she wouldn't be. It was why he had not voiced the idea to her in the first place, not wanting to give her the idea if she hadn't already thought of it on her own. Now that she had, now that she had voiced it, it would consume her. "Every second we wait is a second lost!" Fox snarled. She yanked one of her small daggers out from her belt and jammed it into the soft earth by her hip in frustration, making Benjamin startle as she came a hair's breath from stabbing him in the leg.

"We can't split up, not now! If something happens to any of us, we can't afford not knowing!" Rick argued back. "I understand, Fox, I know exactly how this feels…"

Fox let out a yowl and flung her knife in Rick's direction. It sailed clean over his head harmlessly but Fox launched herself at Rick just as they both jumped to their feet. Everyone else scattered briefly before closing again around the fire but Fox had already leapt over the flames and pitched herself at Rick.

"No you don't!" she screamed. She snagged Rick's shirt with both hands and shook him violently, shaking him so hard that he nearly stumbled to the ground with the force. Daryl rushed in and grabbed her shoulders, trying to haul her off but she shook him away and snagged Rick by the hair and yanked his head back, exposing his throat to her teeth, almost as if she intended to rip it out. "You don't know what it felt like when they beat me so hard I nearly died! When they hung me by my wrists from the ceiling with metal handcuffs! When they shredded my face!"

"Fox enough!" Daryl growled. He came over again to pull her off of Rick and this time with Maggie's help he was able to get Rick out of her grip. The former sheriff staggered back and shook himself like a dog after a bath, settling back into his skin as Daryl and Maggie cautiously let go of Fox.

"We're not going to let that happen to Luna or Judith," Rick panted, still clearly shaken by Fox's unbridled outburst. "I swear it."

"Words mean nothing! I'm sure you said you wouldn't let anything happen to me when Phillip and his men threw me into the back of an SUV and drove off with me in a blizzard!" Fox's chest heaved for air as her fingers tightened into fists again.

"She's right," Glenn grated between clenched teeth. "The time we waste here is time they could be hurting the girls."

"But this isn't how we solve it," Maggie urged, staring at Glenn with concern and worry. "Splitting up only makes us weaker."

"And what if they're torturing the girls the same as they did to Fox? We don't know why they took them. For all we know they took them because they're…" he stopped himself short and stared at the ground, shuffling his feet briefly.

"They're what?" Daryl growled, stalking closer towards Glenn. Did he know something that they didn't? He'd been in Atlanta when the outbreak had occurred; maybe there was some small, seemingly insignificant detail that he knew about that they didn't. It wouldn't have been impossible.

"We're all assuming that the people that took Luna and Judith are the same ones that took Fox, deranged scientists and military psychos. And sure, that hostage guy said so, but that doesn't mean they're going to exactly treat them as honored guests. Look at what they did to Fox. Look at how they took them…they left Carl behind. Sure he's older than them, but why did they leave him and snatch two teenage girls?" His face grew sick and even in the molted light from the disrupted fire he looked revolted. The mental wheels spun in Daryl's head and his stomach roiled.

"I'm just saying its possible. It happens all the time, even in the world that was. And the longer we wait, the longer they're exposed to something like that."

"Glenn…" Maggie whispered, concern and fear sliding over her features.

"We stay as we are," Rick insisted. He settled back into his skin firmly and stepped forward. "We're all worried. We all know what these men are capable of. But separating poses too much of a risk. Even if Daryl and Fox made it to the base before us on the bike, they'd need all of us to get inside. You remember what it was like before, it'd be a suicide mission for the two of you to go there alone now. Plus, if something happens to you or us on the road while we're apart, we might never know what happened. Would you want that?"

Fox shuddered, trying to settle back down but Daryl could clearly see she was still rattled. Without a word she walked away into the darkness to find the knife that she'd thrown and Daryl made to follow her. As he passed Glenn he paused and met the man's eyes.

"Don't ever encourage her like that again. I'll be lucky if I can keep her from stealing one of the vehicles in the middle of the night," he warned.

"She's right and you know it," Glenn growled. There was a time when Glenn would have never spoken against Daryl, too intimidated by the man's lethal accuracy with a crossbow and legendary short temper, but they had been saving each other's lives for so long that sense of wariness had long since died.

"She might be right but I'm not about to encourage her to risk losing more than what we already have!" Daryl snapped. He could feel the anger in him almost boiling over, almost enough to make him want to strike Glenn in the jaw. Only a masterful sense of restraint and barely tied on logic stopped him. "Us, together, the group, is all we have, Glenn. You don't understand what having Luna did to her. Almost twenty years of being safe and being a mother made her forget how important this half-assed backward of a family is to her. Don't encourage her to throw that away in blind panic." Daryl stalked away into the darkness and a shuddering sense of unease settled over the group.

Glenn retreated beyond the fire back to the car he and Maggie shared. He kicked the tire angrily, the resulting pain in his foot helping him to think a little clearer, or at least helped to distract him from the blinding need to fucking do something. He knew he needed rest, he'd almost been swerving drunk over the road the last few miles, but he couldn't help but feel like every second they spent here was seconds ticking away from Judith and Luna's lives.

"Hey."

He recognized Maggie's step even before he heard her voice. The light tread of wanting mixed with hesitation. A tangled up ball of yarn's worth of feelings twisted over him as he looked at her and he found himself without words.

Maggie came to stand next to him and together they turned and faced the open field, sliding towards the ground until they were sitting next to each other staring up at the vast emptiness of the sky above them.

"I didn't mean to encourage her to do something dangerous," Glenn started quietly. "But I think she's right."

Maggie tilted her head, her short-cropped hair brushing over her cheeks and jaw as she glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. "I know," she murmured gently. She interlocked her fingers with Glenn's and squeezed. "But I do think we need to stick together. We can't risk getting split up now."

Glenn sighed heavily and shifted so he was closer to her, his hip brushing hers. "I just thought…what if it was you? What if they had taken you? And I…" he trailed off, struggling for the words, not even wanting to think about the possibility of anything happening to Maggie. He squeezed her hand tight and brought it to his lips, kissing the back of her hand and smelling her skin, that distinctive blend of cotton, sun-warmed earth, and sweet cream. It was a long time before he looked up. "I don't know how long I'd be able to deal with obstacles in the road that slowed everyone else if I had it in my power to go faster."

Maggie leaned over and gently pressed a chaste kiss on his lips. Glenn had never been the best with words, and neither was she to be honest. They had always had a level of understanding and communication that went beneath construed sounds of language from their mouths. She gently leaned her forehead against his and curled tighter into him, grateful to have a man who would go so far for her. She had always known this about him, but it was something that still made her feel close to him. Conversely it also sometimes felt chastising- she was not a helpless child, she could take care of herself. But she was not so foolish as to think that she could face the world on her own. She'd been proven wrong on that so many times it was a wonder she was still standing. It was, thanks in no small part, to the man beside her now.

"We'll get them back," Maggie assured him, speaking softly.

"I just want to get them back without scars this time," he whispered. He lifted his arm and towed Maggie into his side and held her against him, unwilling to let go. He had come a long way from the trembling kid dodging Walkers and shakily holding a shotgun in both hands. He couldn't even begin to imagine what it would be like to lose the most important thing in the world to him, or to have her scarred and traumatized, as he was sure Fox had been while held captive. She had never spoken of or described her abuse, the evidence of it was literally written across her face. He didn't want to imagine or even entertain the consequences of what might happen if something even remotely similar happened to Luna or Judith.

In the darkness Daryl slowly approached Fox as she hunted in the moonlight for the knife she had thrown. He kept his distance until she found it and when she crouched to the earth to retrieve it, he waited until she was on her feet before he made his presence known. Just as he suspected, there was no apology or humility in Fox's face. She had far too much pride to admit, even with body language, that she had overreacted. It was something he had done his best to cull from Luna while she was growing up, and he'd been met with limited success.

"You know I'm right," she whispered as her fingers curled around the handle of her blade.

"No, I don't know that." Daryl's voice was raspy, half strangled by far too much emotion that even after all this time he hated to let show so easily.

"Yes you do," Fox growled. "You know if we had any sense we would just take the bike and go and get them back ourselves and regroup later! The longer we wait, the worse it is!"

His patience was wearing thin. He didn't want to listen to her like this, because her need to take action right this second appealed to the enraged and possessive parent in him that had his offspring stolen from him. His knuckles cracked as his hands curled into fists and then unclenched. "Splitting up is dangerous and might prove to gain nothing for it. When we came to get you, we came with all of us, and thank God we did, because I'd of died down there if I'd of gone on my own after you."

"And I almost died as it was," Fox countered. "Me and Luna both."

Daryl stared at her; almost unbelieving she could be so cruel. It was as if she had struck him with brass knuckles right in the face. After everything had happened and she had told him of her pregnancy, and how she'd found out while being held captive, it had taken a long time for it to sink in that not only had he almost lost Fox, but Luna too. It was a miracle Luna had survived Fox's brutal beatings as it was, and he had always wondered if perhaps that traumatic experience so early on in the pregnancy had something to do with the violent illness that had claimed Luna's hearing, and very nearly her life.

"I came for you. I came as fast as I could!" Daryl insisted.

"I know you did!" Fox responded urgently. She realized she'd hit him below the belt and now sorrow did sweep across her face. She tried to approach but he withdrew from her advance and so she stayed where she was and met his eyes. "All I'm saying is we have a chance to maybe prevent something similar from happening to Luna and Judith."

Daryl tried to loosen his limbs but he was met with only a small degree of success. "I'm well aware of our options," he said stiffly. He turned to leave but felt Fox following him and turned back. "Just don't. Not now," he growled.

He turned and walked away and Fox sheathed her knife in her belt and stood still, watching him go towards the bike. She knew he wouldn't leave and now she was kicking herself for hitting him where it really hurt. She hadn't meant to hurt him like that but she should have known better. She hadn't decided on how best to proceed when Rick came up to her shoulder.

"I know better than to expect an apology from you," Rick murmured.

"Yeah, you do know better," Fox answered back, but she didn't look at him, keeping her gaze fixed on Daryl's back.

"But that was uncalled for, what you did to him," Rick added. He might have added it was also uncalled for the way she had grabbed him, but he didn't. He wasn't willing to antagonize her anymore than she had already been ever since they'd found out Luna and Judith had been taken.

"What do you want me to say? He's too damn angry and stubborn to listen to me right now," Fox huffed, digging the tip of her booted foot against the ground.

"Go over there and say you're sorry, for once in your life," Rick grated between clenched teeth. She turned to face him and was met with reproach. She swallowed the words of challenge in her throat and met head-on with his next retort.

"I don't know what it is about you that you can't seem to have a remorseful bone in your body. I've known you for almost twenty years, Fox, and never once have I heard you apologize for something you've done. Tell me, have you ever regretted anything?" His voice was hard, harder than she hard heard from him in years.

"Yes." She gritted the words through clenched teeth. "You have no idea the things I've regretted in my life."

"Then why is it so hard for you to show it? We've all said things we didn't mean, done things we wish we wouldn't have. That was cruel what you did," he reiterated.

"You think I don't know that?" Fox snapped coldly. "If you think you can make me burst into tears you're wrong. I won't regret what I want, but I didn't mean to hurt Daryl like that. You of all people I'm amazed aren't gung-ho right beside me," she added with a cagey look in her eye.

Rick let out a tense breath. "I want to. But the logistics are improbable. The bike only holds two, and besides, like I said, splitting the group is too dangerous. We can't risk it. Judith means the world to me, she always has. But I have Carl and the rest of the group to think about as well. You and Daryl are two of the strongest fighters if we run into trouble, that is something I cannot discount. Plus Daryl is still the best hunter of the group, there's no guarantee we'll be able to pilfer food if our supply runs out. There's more reasons why it would be basically suicide to have you guys go tearing off on your own, not the least of which is the madhouse you'll encounter when you get to the base."

"Guess I'm just selfish," Fox growled low in her throat. It was not an accusation; it was a statement of fact. She was selfish. She'd always been selfish of what she claimed as hers. She claimed very little in her life, but what she did she held onto with all the ferocity of an F5 tornado, and Luna was on the top of that list. Luna was her flesh and blood, the last blood relative she had left. Nurturing her and raising her as she had only increased her natural protectiveness ten fold.

"You're a mother," Rick said softly, losing most of the anger in his voice. "I think it's an animal instinct to place the welfare of your offspring above everything else. Even Lori, who was not the most courageous or tenacious of sorts, could be dangerous if she thought Carl was threatened." He met her gaze steadily and it was gentler this time.

"I didn't mean to cut that deep," Fox said softly. "I just wanted him to feel the same urgency."

"I know that," Rick said heavily. "But you took it too far. There are not many things that bother Daryl, but shoving something like that under his nose is one of them."

They both paused and assessed each other. They had come a very long way from when they'd first met. When they had first met Fox would have never dared allowed anyone to tell her how she should handle a relationship of any sorts. And even now, she was reluctant to be lectured to by anybody. But she shared a bond with Rick that afforded her the patience to listen to him. For all of the mistakes he had made, Rick had wisdom and a depth of humanity that was more precious than all the diamonds in the earth, and she had spilt blood to protect that humanity. That shared moment passed between them and the tension ebbed like the tide easing back out to sea.

"We move out at dawn." They needed no parting words. Their understanding ran deeper than that.

She cautiously approached the space of earth next to the motorcycle where Daryl was stretched out. Summertime afforded them warmth without much by the way of shelter but when he heard her coming he sat up.

"Don't get up," she said quietly. She dropped down next to him, resting on top of her sleeping bag as he was on his own. She paused, trying to find the right words to say, not wanting to draw this out any more than was necessary. He had fixed her with that knowing look, almost as if he knew what she wanted to say, and was demanding it from her, because she had been in the wrong, and they both knew it.

"I'm sorry for what I said." She looked up into his eyes, not sure of what she might see. She had been with him for almost twenty years, but when it came to apologies she still had very little experience. Only one other time could she recall sharply where she had said she was sorry, and that was after she had physically struck him across the face.

"Guess asking for forgiveness is too much of a stretch," he muttered.

Her skin crawled uncomfortably. "Are you going to hold me hostage to a mistake?"

"It wasn't a mistake," he said shrewdly. "You meant it to hurt. I know you better than that, Dahlia. You tried to rile me up like poking at a rattlesnake. Right?" He fixed her with a steely look and she shifted but then lifted her chin and met his eyes.

"Yes." It was the truth. She had meant to rile him, hoping to spurn him into the action she desired. She had miscalculated on how much her words would hurt.

A muscle in his jaw twitched before he relaxed. "But I understand," he said quietly. "I know how you feel. I want to be on the road right now to get them back. But Rick is right. We have to be careful or we might lose everything."

She sank lower onto her side and he did the same and she cautiously crept up towards him like a chastised dog coming to lie at its master's foot. Years ago her pride would not have allowed her to do so, but now with so much uncertainty, fear, and regret, as well as years spent with him, she put her pride aside. Daryl welcomed her to lie against him and when his arm came down over her side to pull her close, the last of the tension ebbed away.

"I'm sorry for hurting you," she whispered. "I know you'd do anything for me. And Luna."

He hummed softly in the back of his throat against her neck. "If I couldn't handle your unfiltered mouth we would not be where we are," he said. His tone was gentle, but there was the smallest hint of a warning there. Not that she needed it. She would keep herself in-check as much as she could now. She wasn't afraid he'd leave her or that she would be ousted from the group if she caused a ruckus, the time for that kind of uncertainty had long since passed. But they needed to be unified for what lay ahead, and she wouldn't let petty words get in the way from being as strong as possible when it came time to rescue Luna and Judith.

* * *

Hearts beat fast as raindrops spattering the ground as they approached the mouth of the mountain. They'd heard no activity of any kind on the way there, something that had unnerved Daryl greatly, and Rick too, but they'd come to far to be pushed back now. They slung through the trees, the mountains terrain rough under their tired legs but they were far too keyed up on adrenaline to even notice it. Each of them were armed to the teeth, everybody with at least a gun and a knife, and in most of their cases more than one of each. Daryl had his crossbow hitched around his back, at the moment his thirty eight in his hand and his buck knife not far out of reach.

The entrance to the base was just up ahead through the trees and even this close Daryl was perturbed to hear nothing. Everyone else was on edge too, especially Fox, who had a death grip on her kukri blade as they slunk forward, able to see the fence through the trees now.

"Something's wrong!" Benjamin hissed. He had a nine millimeter strapped to his hip which after years of practice he'd finally managed to become something other than a horrible shot with. Still Daryl wouldn't put it past him to accidently shoot a finger off if he wasn't anything less than a hundred percent focused.

"Where is everyone?" Glenn agreed. His shotgun was on his back and at the moment his right hand was occupied with a handgun, as was Maggie's. She also had a double barrel across her back, and Daryl knew from sheer experience that she could wreck havoc with it if she put her mind to do so.

"Maybe they know we're here," Carl supplied. His voice was gritty with barely suppressed anger. "Maybe they're trying to lure us in. Could be a trap."

Fox trained her eyes to the various towers and other positions of height from behind the fence that might offer a vantage point. She wasn't sure if they were capable of any kind of electronic surveillance, but she didn't detect any of the sort from her position. She was about to say something when Daryl twitched next to her.

"There! Through the trees, towards the loading bay," he hissed, nudging Rick who looked in the direction he'd indicated, maybe fifty yards away. He saw a rustle of movement through one of the shrubs that was growing along the edge of the fence, the slightest twitch of the metal.

"How many you think?" Rick asked through clenched teeth as his fingertips stroked the trigger on his python. This was one of many times having Luna's eyesight would have been incredibly useful.

"I think it's only one," Maggie murmured. She had the best view of the slightly trembling bushes. They all held their breath and watched, attention torn between the secluded area by the loading bay and keeping a watch for movement anywhere else. The breeze began to blow strongly, a slight bite to its temperature. At first nothing happened and Daryl began to think he'd imagined the movement but then they heard the softest of growls.

"Move," Rick urged. He took the lead, Daryl right at his flank, Fox covering him. Maggie, Glenn, and Benjamin covered Rick's other side as they swept up towards the now definite motion. They loped forward quickly, the sound of the growling getting louder and louder until there was no mistaking it for Walker snarls. Except they sounded somewhat distorted and they quickly found out why.

They came crashing through the thick shrubbery that had hidden their quarry from sight and found a pair of Walkers, almost identical looking, but like no Walkers Daryl had ever seen before. Both had their lower jaws torn off, mangled meat hanging off the remaining bones in their faces. They had no teeth that Daryl could see, or arms for that matter, and around their necks were metal collars hooked to a chain that was tied around one of the trees.

"What the hell?" Glenn asked softly when a frightened shriek sliced the air in two.

Everyone whirled and saw a hooded figure manhandling Benjamin, a lengthy and deadly looking blade held right at his throat.

"Who are you?" came the voice beneath the hood.

"Let him go!" Rick demanded, cocking the hammer back on his gun.

"Nobody ever comes up here unless you're one of them!" the figure growled back. "Who are you?"

"Release him!" Rick demanded again and with a flick of his eyes at Daryl, the hunter raised his gun, right along side with Maggie and Glenn. Fox did not draw her firearm but she did remove both her kukri knives from her belt and twirl them easily in her hands. The hooded figure eyed the blades and then snapped its gaze back towards Rick. The figure slowly lowered the sword and Benjamin hurriedly skittered towards the group before spinning around and drawing his own gun.

"Drop your weapon," Rick ordered, every inch of his old cop voice back in between his teeth.

"Whatever you came here for is gone," the figure said and Daryl detected the trace of some hidden knowledge that made his blood pump faster in his veins. The figure brandished the sword which made the entire group flinch and raise their guns higher but instead the figure raised it back and sheathed it in a case strapped across their back and as the arm came back down it gripped the edge of the hood and pulled it down.

They were faced with a black woman, roughly the same age as them, shoulder length dread locked hair held back by a thick headband, wearing simple civilian clothes and appearing to have no other weapons on her person save for her sword. She was built lean and strong and Daryl knew that if she had survived the outbreak this long, she likely had skill with the weapon and that they should be cautious.

"What do you mean gone?" Rick asked. His tone was still threatening and he had not lowered his gun, but it was less so.

"The men who worked in this base left a day and a half ago. Everyone, all the trucks, helicopters, everything." The woman's eyes darkened. "Judging by the looks of you you're not apart of them, so who are you and what do you want with them?"

"We could say the same about you," Fox growled, spinning her knives again. She tilted her head towards the Walkers who were straining against their chain, trying to get to all of them, struggling to gnash their non-existent jaws. Daryl had no doubt that if they broke loose of their bindings even without jaws they would probably still be able to tear off and manage to get down a few mouthfuls of meat.

"I've lived in the area for a while and kept tabs on them. Thought that if society was ever going to show back up again, it might start with them." She didn't move, and began to eye them all with greater suspicion, and something akin to aggravation.

"And has it?" Glenn asked.

"None so far," she responded coolly. "You can lower your weapons. I have no interest in hurting you."

Rick's eyes grew angered. "I think we'll be the ones to make that judgment call. What's your name, how long have you lived here, do you know what happened, why they left?"

She turned to him, having tried to step around their semi-circle in order to reach the Walkers chained to the tree. "They used to at least try and buy me a drink first," she muttered, mostly to herself. Daryl cocked an eyebrow and Rick took note. Maybe this woman wasn't as mentally stable as they were. They'd seen it before, found survivors on various supply runs that had been alone for too long and had gone mad. If they posed as threats they eliminated them, but they tried to just let them alone if they could, despite an alternative possibly being a mercy killing.

"My name is Michonne," she answered after a long pause, as if she had to really think about it to remember it. "I've lived in the area…a while. I can't remember exactly how long, a few years at least. Just scavenging, roaming from place to place, but when I found there were people here I decided to keep an eye on them and see what they were up to." She took a step too close to them and Fox raised her knives again. Michonne's eyes gleamed in the reflective light from the blades and the smallest kindred spark passed between the two.

"Why didn't you join them?" Benjamin asked, speaking for the first time since she'd let him go. His face had blanched of any color he'd ever had, and his New York accent was thick on his tongue.

Michonne's eyes narrowed sharply as she turned to him. "I saw what happened to the ones they took in. They never come out."

An icy chill settled over Daryl's body but Rick's words cut through the cold swath of fear squeezing his chest.

"You said something about helicopters, other vehicles. How many people are we talking about? Where did they go?"

Michonne shrugged. "Can't say for sure. They look military, but the government's dead and gone. Nothing left of them. So who they are…where they went…I don't know." She looked at them all with tired and yet somehow still amused eyes. "If you came seeking supplies, I wouldn't bother. There aren't any."

"Did you see them leave?" Rick asked. "Did you see two teenage girls with them?" Urgency washed over his words.

Michonne tilted her head again. "I've seen several teenagers taken into the mountain. They never come out. If they were there, they're not now."

"I don't fucking believe it," Daryl growled to Rick while he turned away for a moment. "And even if they are gone, there's got to be some trace of where they would go inside. Records of some kind. If they left and took everything with them, they had a plan. They had to have. With the resources they had last time, they'd have somewhere to fall back to."

Rick nodded at the hunter's logic and turned back to Michonne. "A word of advice, don't take people hostage when you're outnumbered. The next group might shoot you."

Michonne dipped her head. "Duly noted," she said sarcastically.

Rick turned and motioned to the group and they followed him through the trees towards the fence but as they cleared the underbrush they noticed Michonne was actually following them, albeit at a distance but nevertheless too close for comfort.

"This is our business, not yours," Rick growled. "I suggest you take your pets and move on."

Michonne's face hardened angrily. "Just because you have a gun doesn't mean you own the whole world. Why would I kill you? Do I look like someone who wants to be loaded down with a lot of useless supplies? I want to see what's inside, same as you."

"And you think that will make us trust you, you're out of your mind," Daryl growled coldly. "Back the hell up." He brandished his gun and Michonne paused.

Michonne ignored him for the most part and focused her attention on Rick. "You're wasting your time here. They're gone. There's no people left for you to find, what else is down there I don't know. But I know the routes they took to drive out of here."

Fox twitched near Daryl's shoulder. "The roads are all jammed. We had to come creeping up here to avoid breaking our axels."

Michonne nodded in agreement. "There's a way out of this place on the other side of the mountain. I can help you get there, as well as get past the band of people who have settled that valley without being seen. If you were to go that way on your own, they'd rip you to pieces."

"In exchange for what?" Rick growled.

"Letting me into the base with you without six guns in my face." Michonne glared at Daryl and then Fox before turning her eyes on Rick. Rick twitched his head towards Daryl and the two withdrew while the others kept their weapons trained on Michonne.

"What do you think?" the former cop asked.

Daryl paused and weighed the situation. "She's the same age we are, or close to it, she's survived all this time, that makes her just as dangerous as we are. But we're in enemy territory and we are at a disadvantage. She knows the area, and if there are people in the next valley over, and that's our fastest way out of here, having her help us wouldn't be a bad idea. There's seven of us and one of her, I'm pretty sure we can keep her contained if we had to."

Rick mulled it over in his mind before stepping back towards the main group and motioning for Daryl to follow. Michonne kept her eyes trained on him carefully, like a tom-cat sizing up a rival male in an ally.

"Alright, you come with us. But not with those things," he gestured to the Walkers chained to the tree. "They die first."

Michonne's eyes narrowed and her expression morphed somewhere between anger, resentment, and acceptance. She unsheathed her sword in a smooth, well practiced motion and spun gracefully, slicing first one head, and then the other, clean off. When their ruined mouths still twitched she sank the tip of her blade through each of their temples, truly killing them. The bodies dropped at the foot of the tree they were chained to and Michonne used a cloth tucked into her belt to clean her blade before sheathing it. Fox glanced at her and then at Daryl and Daryl saw the spark of slight envy at the woman's weapon and despite the tension, it amused him.

They all slipped like a pack of wolves out of the trees and towards the fence, one by one climbing over, Michonne going last and carefully watched by the others. Once they'd made it over they approached the loading bay and powerful flashbacks rocked through Daryl. The last time he'd been here, he'd had Fox draped over him, so close to death he didn't even really want to acknowledge it. Carl had still been a child, he hadn't yet known he was a father, and the world had only ended a matter of months before. He tried not to let it show on his face as they descended down into the mountain and instead kept his gaze trained between Fox and Michonne, letting his wary instincts keep a watch on the new companion to the group.

As they went down several flights of steps, searching random rooms, all of which had been vacated, looking for any information, any sign, or whisper of where the base had evacuated to, Fox stuck close to Daryl, her arm brushing his every soften as they rounded corners, keeping a close watch for anything moving, dead or alive. It didn't seem likely that Walkers would have gotten in, but after all of the places that they had sheltered in on the road, they had learned to be cautious. They kept Michonne in the middle of their little circle, Rick taking point, Fox and Daryl flanking him as they cautiously roamed the empty, stone hallways.

"It's empty. Like I said," Michonne muttered as they finally came back around in circles having searched every floor and found nothing, not even a trace or scrap of paper with any kind of lead. Frustration and anger roared through Rick's veins as he struggled to think clearly.

"What about the cells?" Carl asked quietly. "Weren't they in the basement or something? Wasn't that you were held?" he asked Fox, meeting her gaze briefly. She nodded.

"If they were going to hold Luna and Judith hostage, it would be there," Glenn reasoned.

With trepidation and a not so small hum of anxiety and simmering anger rolling through her, Fox followed her family down the nearest flight of stairs. She didn't remember being hauled out by Daryl and the others who had come to rescue her. The last thing she had really remembered from when she'd been held captive was the bone splitting pain of Phillip's knife as it had sawed over the sensitive skin of her face over and over again, giving her the permanent scars she now wore. After the last cut she had passed out from the pain and the physical stress of her imprisonment. She only remembered vague flashes from there- shouting, the smell of blood and metal, the feel of hard hands holding her and dragging her away. Consciousness hadn't seemed so important then. Nothing had seemed so important then except the numbness that only being so close to death could bring.

Daryl led the way down towards the cells, dark memories washing over him. He tried his best to block out the reminders of his fight with his brother, the echoes of Fox's blood curdling screams as Phillip tortured her while he had been trapped in the next cell over. The sight of her mangled, bloody body hanging from the ceiling. He still remembered the resistance of Phillip's skull as his buck knife sawed it open in vengeance, the softness of his brain between his fingers as he'd yanked it away from the skull cavity and flung it to the floor before crushing it beneath his heel. If anyone had so much as laid a finger on Luna, they would get the same, except this time he would make sure they were still alive first.

They reached the floor of the cells and one by one they searched them, finding all of them unlocked. The search proved fruitless, the darkness impeding their search until they clicked their flashlights on. One by one they cleared the rooms of anything useful until they came to the last door. The electric white beams from their lights cast upon the small cell and at first Daryl was going to call it clear and admit defeat when he saw a flash of color on the back wall. He swept his light close to it again and called for the others. On the back wall close to the floor was a sloppily written message.

_We're alive. Atlanta. The CDC. _Beneath the words was the shape of a crescent moon and the letter J.

Almost in a trance Daryl approached the wall and let his fingers touch the words. He crouched down to be eye level with the message and pressed his fingertips into the letters. When he pulled his hand back his fingertips were sticky and a deep sniff gave off a salty smell. He licked his fingertips and tasted copper.

"It's written in blood," he murmured as he stepped back and allowed the others to see. Fox dropped down to her knees as well and traced every letter with her fingers. Daryl saw her shivering, her shoulders shaking. Rick too seemed to have a hard time keeping himself contained. His hands were trembling, his fingertips twitching almost uncontrollably. They all pulled away from the wall and pressed close together.

"They're alive," Rick murmured softly. "They're alive."

"Yeah, and they were taken to Atlanta for Christ's sake. You said they had helicopters?" Glenn asked, looking over at Michonne who had remained closer to the door, giving them space and as much privacy as could be afforded in these tight quarters.

"Yes. I'd seen them fly overhead many times. Most recently when everyone else pulled out."

"That means they're in Atlanta by now," Fox reasoned. "Once we're out of the mountains how long do you think it'll take to reach the city?" She directed this at Michonne as well.

The black woman shrugged her shoulders. "There's no way to know how bad the roads might be once we leave the area. Hopefully it's not as bad as it is here but there's no guarantee."

They all turned towards Rick. Daryl could see the man was struggling with the knowledge of what they were going to have to do, but like he always did, he settled into his skin. He took his place at the head of their group and lifted his head up and looked them all in the eye.

"We're going back. We're going to Atlanta and we'll rescue them." It was simple but delivered with so much conviction and every syllable was weighted down with so much history that it hit them all like ten-pound weights on their necks.

No one argued with him. They followed his lead to leave the base and the whole time Daryl's heart was racing beneath his chest. Georgia. Atlanta. The home he had abandoned, fled from to save his life, the place he'd left his brother to die in. The place his brother had returned to after he had forced him to leave without reconciliation. He tried to ignore it, but he had a sneaking suspicion in his gut that before this was over, he'd tangle with Merle again. But within that nervousness there was hope, hope like the rising sun after hours of fighting through hordes of slavering corpses in the darkness. Not that the sun would save him, Walkers were not vampires that would perish in the light, but the visibility somehow soothed his soul, and for now, it was something to be grateful for.


	8. Chapter 8

_**Alright ladies and gentlemen we are back again! See, I promised I would try and bring you updates quicker, I'm doing my best. Enjoy my friends! **_

**Emberka-2012**: _Yes, Daryl knows the character of Fox and what she is capable. Good thing they listened to Rick. The appearance Michonne I did not expect, but it's good news. The group is small, and another person with her skills can not hurt. At least now they know where to look for girls. And where to find those responsible for kidnapping._

Daryl does indeed know what Fox is capable of. He's always known and in what she is capable of he sees similarities between the two of them, and that's part of the reason they're bonded the way they are, because they can handle each other, but despite that, it is a good thing they have Rick there to keep them both in check. Ahh Michonne, I love her character to pieces but I wasn't as familiar with her when I was writing Wildflower, so I held back from using her, but I have plans, oh I have plans for her in Wolfsong. They do indeed have a heading as it were, a dangerous heading…

**Brittney**: _Another great chapter! I loved how you put Hershel's line of getting a drink first in the story. You are a great writer and keep up the great work, you have a lot of loyal fans! :)_

Hah, you know, when I wrote that line in there, I had /completely/ forgotten Hershel had said that, I was using it more along the lines of just somewhat random mumblings, but then as soon as I read your review I was like "Oh yeaaah! He did say that didn't he!" Well I don't know about a lot of fans, but I know the ones I have are very loyal, and that's incredible and I love you guys for it =D

**FanFicGirl10**: _Yay Michonne! She makes me so happy :) Well at least they know where the girls are and hopefully they find them soon. Thanks for not giving up, Update Soon!_

I know right! I love Michonne too. I wanted to use her in Wildflower but I wasn't familiar enough with her character when I started and then by the time I was it was kind of too late, but I definitely have plans for her for this story so I am so excited to bring that to you guys. You know I really did almost give up on this…I just couldn't bring myself to write anything, and then one day I sat down and said "Come hell or freaking high water, I'll get past this block" And now everything comes easy. This is part of the writing process I'm still learning, and I'm glad I have you guys to back me up, you're amazing.

**rosemarycr**: _Aw, I'm so excited to see where this is going! I really like how you balance it all, sometimes focusing more of Luna and Judith, and other times on the rest of the group. And Michonne... BRILLIANT, I'm so glad you decided to add her to this story. I think I'm convinced we'll be seeing Merle again. _

I was inspired to do the divided attention style of story from a recent marathon of Lord of the Rings, and also I have several adventures and challenges to be faced not only by Luna and Judith, but also by the remainder of their family as they struggle to reunite. I hope I can keep the balance going, some chapters there will be both sides and some, like the last two, will just be one or the other, we'll just see how it goes. As for Michonne, I was so not leaving her out a second time, she's too bad-ass for that. And as for Merle…we definitely haven't seen the last of him ;)

**RedneckBunny**: _WHOO-HOO, MICHONNE! I love that woman. But seriously... I NEED TO KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON WITH LUNA AND JUDITH! Please tell me that'll be within the next chapter or two? More amazingness that was, as always, worth the boiling over anticipation, excitement and wonder! You really do put 99% of all the other fanfics I've ever read to shame. So happy you made this sequel._

Michonne indeed, I was soooo happy to be able to bring her into this story. She's far too kick-ass to leave behind yet again. I can't wait to see where they go with her charrie in Season 4 of the actual show. As for Luna and Judith, never you fear my friend, answers to your questions are coming. And I thank you most kindly for your words, I really try to write with a caliber that I would want to read, and whilst I tend to be gentle in my criticism of most books (most, not all) I still hold myself to a high standard, and I try to write the stories that I'd love to read over and over again.

* * *

The darkness was more than dark, it was strangling, throttling Luna's eyesight with a vise-like grip that would not ease up. Her breath came in fractured pulls as she struggled to fight down the panic. There was very little Luna was ever afraid of in her life, but darkness like this was one of those things. She was so dependent on her eyesight that to be without it made terror rise up like bile in her throat and she struggled to even draw a breath properly. She choked out a strangled sound, trying to say Judith's name, blindly scrambling, groping in the darkness, fear weighing down every twitch and yet spurning on her frantic movements just as strongly.

"Luna!" Judith yowled her sister's name, hoping that she might hear some semblance of it and turn towards her. She twisted and turned, stone underneath her feet gritty and wet and she flailed wildly, bumping this way and that trying to get her bearings in the darkness. Above them she could hear the scraping and snarling of the Walkers, trying to reach down into the manhole that they had slid into to escape. She had no doubt that if they lingered long enough the creatures would make it inside and so moving away was the safest bet, but she had to find Luna first. She had grabbed her sister by the foot and yanked her inside but in the darkness she could no longer find her.

Luna felt vibrations through the ground and twisted, pausing, forcing herself to stop shaking and breathe to try and determine what was happening. She still had a hold of her homemade knife and this she grated against the wall she felt near her left side in order to hopefully give Judith a clue as to where she was. She tried her best not to breathe in, the smell down here was horrible, something like rotted flesh and bones mixed with filth and vomit, rank with ammonia and dispersed by acidic water. It was acrid and choking, so strong that she almost gagged when she accidently breathed in through her nose.

"Luna!" Judith called when her hand finally closed on her sister's shoulder. Luna recognized her by touch alone and grabbed her, pulling her in and hugging her fiercely, coughing at the horrible smell but so grateful they were both still alive.

"Are you alright? Are you bit? Scratched?" Judith frantically signed, tracing the message into Luna's arm.

"No, I'm ok. Are you ok?" she asked. She could feel herself still shaking and while she was now ashamed of her fear she couldn't repress the tremors entirely.

"I'm alright," Judith assured her. "We have to move," she insisted.

Luna nodded, unsure if Judith could see it or not. She could not hear the scratching of the biters overhead from the manhole entrance but she knew that they were damned determined when there was food around, and as such, they would find their way inside eventually.

There was no way to orient herself by sight, the darkness was too thick. She tried to remember the direction she'd been facing when she'd gone down the manhole but she had spun wildly so many times that there was no way to tell which way she was facing anymore. She shrugged her shoulders, resolved to deal with it when there was a way to figure it out and not before and grabbed Judith by the wrist and pulled her away from the manhole where the biters were already reaching through, some of them beginning to slither inside, their bodies dangling like worms on hooks as they struggled to all fit down the hole at the same time.

Judith stuck very close to Luna, knowing that in order for them to stay alive in this crushing darkness she was going to have to be able to hear every tiny sound. There was no way to know if there were Walkers in these tunnels already, and robbed of sight, sound was the only way to judge for sure.

"Now of course would be when I remember Dad's stories about lurkers," Luna signed bitterly into Judith's hand. Judith shuddered and invisibly glared at Luna.

"Oh thanks for reminding me," the older remarked, nicking Luna with blunt nails to show her displeasure. Luna ignored the chastisement, knowing it was merely based in fear. Lurkers were biters that had become so deprived of nutrients that they stayed still as stone wherever they lay, appearing truly dead, but the moment they sensed food approaching they could come to life and strike with all the deadly accuracy of a poisonous snake. Her father had told her a story of how her mother's life had almost been claimed by a lurker within the first year of the outbreak. She shivered unpleasantly at the thought.

They crept along the passageway very slowly, feeling their way through by the walls, and wonder of wonders the darkness began to ease up. Every so often their were grates in the street above them that would allow very weak filters of moonlight to pass through and thus illuminating the tunnels by the most meager of means. Luna's eyes soaked up the light like dry ground absorbs water and she felt the film of darkness obscuring her vision begin to ease by the smallest amounts. It was not enough to truly be useful, but it quelled some of the still rising panic in her gut.

At one such grate they attempted to escape from the tunnel, trying valiantly to push it out of the way and thus climb back onto the street but they were met will failure. It was difficult to tell if it would have even been safe to emerge there in the first place. Resigned to keep trying they stumbled along, sticking to the walls, the curved wet stone underneath their shoes affording them little by the way of grip. As they continued stumbling and fumbling their way along panic began to rise in Luna's throat. She had a terrible fear they were going in circles, unable to get any sense of direction at all and struggling to find out how far they'd gone in the twisting turn of the passages.

Eventually pain began to spread through both their feet and legs and their backs from being partially hunched over to avoid scraping their heads on the top of the tunnel. "How long have we been down here?" Judith signed to Luna as they stopped to take a breath and rest their legs.

"Long enough that I will smell like a mule's asshole for at least a week," Luna signed back. They had stopped beneath one of the grates in the street and so the thin shafts of moonlight coming down into the tunnel afforded them enough visibility that Luna could sign without having to touch Judith's skin. They leaned against the stone, too tired to care about the wet gritty texture smearing against their clothes and skin. It had been at least five miles just getting to the city, let alone their mad dash scrambling as they tried to escape the hordes, and now this whole time wandering down here, no wonder they were exhausted. Luna sank down to the floor of the sewer and leaned against the wall and Judith did the same, fighting to keep her eyes open.

"We can't stay here," Judith eventually said, knowing the reality but physically resisting it.

Luna didn't respond at first. She was struggling to keep all of her emotions from welling up and overwhelming her self-control. Her body burned with various aches and pain, her stomach growled with want of food, and her brain desperately needed rest. She touched Judith on the arm to get her attention before signing "I want to go home."

Judith nodded, misery and pain washing over her. She wanted her father's hand through her hair, her brother's playful love taps on her shoulder, enticing her into a wrestling match. She wanted the softness of her bed, the smell of clean sheets pressed all around her nose as she relaxed after a hard day in the fields. She could feel the tears stinging at her eyes as she thought of her family and how worried they had to be. With every fiber of her being she desperately hoped that they were ok, that they had found her message, that they were unhurt and coming for them. She shivered with cold and Luna pressed closer to her, comforting her in her silent way as she was ought to do.

"We have to move," Luna urged softly with her signs after an immeasurable amount of time passed. When Judith did not respond it was then that Luna realized she'd fallen asleep from sheer exhaustion. The cognitive knowledge that they needed to get up and keep moving rattled in her brain like a stone in a tin can but Luna couldn't find the force of will to get up. She resolved herself to staying awake and keeping a watch as best as she could to allow Judith to get some much needed sleep. In her mind she replayed memories of home in her head, the emotions welling up hard and hot in her throat and helping her to stay awake. Silent tears slid down her cheeks as the loneliness and unfamiliarity crashed over her like the river rapids after a heavy rain. She scrubbed at her face, refusing to give in to such despair. They would get out of here. One way or another they were going to make it out, and they were going to go home, and she would see her family again.

She had just settled back down into her skin when she saw something twitch out of the corner of her eye. Startling she jerked herself upright and grabbed Judith by the shoulder and shook her firmly. Her other hand clenched hard on her homemade knife.

"What, what is it?" Judith asked blearily. Luna didn't have to watch her lips move to judge what the question had been. She pointed down the tunnel towards the next bend where she thought she'd seen the movement.

Judith's eyes strained against the darkness. How long had she been asleep? Had the sun risen? She glanced up at the grate, trying to see if there was any change to the outside world but from her vantage point it was impossible to tell. She forced her breathing to slow down so she could hear. Faintly, ever so faintly, she thought she heard the scrape of shoes on rock.

"Come on," she hissed to Luna. Luna kept her grip fixed on her knife and Judith took the lead, creeping forward carefully, minding the very slick portions of concrete to avoid having them step into the narrow cannel where water for the city had once run.

"Biters?" Luna drew into Judith's arm, asking the fearful question as she shifted her grip on her knife. Judith paused around the bend and then Luna came up to her shoulder, expecting a response but instead she saw something moving fast directly ahead of them at the next bend. Something moving too fast to be a biter. Something else.

The last bit of Luna's control snapped and she kicked started into a run, resolved to chase down whoever was ahead of them. She didn't know what else she might encounter down here, and she really didn't care. If there was someone…anyone…then maybe they would know the way out. Judith ran after her, her feet slipping on the slick stone and having to catch herself repeatedly as she chased down Luna who by now had jumped into the cannel in order to be able to run on flat ground and pick up speed. The water had long since dried up but the stone was still damp, but Luna kept her feet placed carefully, just as she had when free running through the woods at home, and pursued the now clearly fleeing figure. Judith called out to them as they ran, darting through the tunnels which had begun to grow considerably warmer, the air much more musty and smelling of earth rather than stone and water. Luna noticed this as well but shelved it in the back of her mind for now. She was less than fifteen feet from the fleeing figure, the sound of scraping shoes and heavy breathing lost to her. The thrill of the hunt poured over her veins, renewing her strength and determination. She drove her legs even harder as she had when they fled the biters and on the next bend she launched herself at the person who was running from them. She cut the corner with her jump and snagged a fistful of shirt and hung on for dear life. The weight of her dragged the person down and they clattered to the stone floor, rolling and scrabbling. The person cried out in surprise and terror but Luna snarled in her throat, the rush of fight or flight raging through her and right now she would fight. She fisted both hands into the person's shoulders and slammed them down hard, their head knocking hard on the ground. She could tell they cried out in pain and the sound reverberated around the stone walls, rattling against her ear drums with a buzzing sensation that merely annoyed her. She clapped a hand over the person's mouth, her knees pinning their shoulders back as she rested her weight mostly on his chest to stop them from drawing a proper breath and whipped her homemade knife forward and laid it against the trembling throat beneath her.

"Well done, Luna," Judith panted as she caught up. Luna did not look up to see her sister's comment, she kept her gaze focused on the squirming body beneath her. She had pulled the person down underneath another grate and so the thin shafts of moonlight afforded her the ability to see a few details.

He was a boy, around their age if the smoothness of his cheeks and the gentle curve to his jaw was any way to judge. She started when she saw the slant to his eyes and the shape of his nose.

"Like Glenn," she hissed, daring to look into her sister's face, her voice rasped and grated between her vocal chords. The boy was squirming underneath her, trying to speak against the pressure of her hand on his mouth. She leaned her homemade knife down a little harder on his throat and nodded to Judith for her to do most of the talking.

"Ok listen kid, don't scream and my sister here will let you breathe," Judith explained, crouching down near his head, pushing the pieces of her long hair that had slipped free of her pony tail away from her face. The boy nodded frantically and Luna carefully removed her hand.

"Jesus Christ, what the hell are you doing?" he whined. Luna fisted her hand into his hair and pulled back hard, forcing his throat to arch and to prevent him from struggling much more. "Let me go!"

"Quiet!" Judith snarled. "Are there biters in here?"

"What?" he panted weakly, trying to twist to see Judith but Luna would not allow him to move more than a fraction of an inch.

"Biters. The dead things that eat us," Judith elaborated, frustration leaking into every syllable.

"Walkers? Yes! Yes they're inside, we have to keep moving or they'll catch up!" His delivery was fast and rushed, nervous sweat pouring over his face.

"Not until you show us the way out!" Judith demanded. Luna leaned further against his chest and increased the pressure of her knife on his throat.

"Way out?" the boy croaked. "There is no way out! The city is overrun! We have to turn around, go back to the CDC where it's safe!"

Luna snarled and knocked his head back hard against the stone. "We're not going back!" she growled. Her words were so thick it must have been a challenge for him to understand her, if he did at all.

"You!" he accused, twitching underneath Luna. "You're the ones who escaped! I heard about it before I came down."

Luna shot a look at Judith. "Heard from who?" the elder of the girls asked.

"Milton and the rest of course. You two are the only ones who ever jumped off the roof. Fucking stupid you know, I'm surprised you weren't ripped to pieces. How did you get down here in the first place?"

"The rest?" Judith questioned, looking over at Luna and then back down at the boy.

"Yeah, the others. There's a big group of us. Did Milton not say anything?" His tone suggested to Judith genuine confusion and she blinked once to Luna and she eased a little of the pressure on his throat.

"No. He didn't say much. Just that Jenner needed us," Judith offered. She kept both ears pricked for any sounds of incoming biters but for the moment they appeared to be alone.

"Well he does. We're gonna help him make the cure." His eyes gleamed in the low light and Judith twitched, as did Luna.

"Maybe you are, we're not!" Luna growled. "You're going to show us the way out of here!"

"I told you, there is no way out!" he whined. "The tunnels don't extend far enough to get out of the red zone, and you'll never make it through there without getting killed. Plus the Walkers are getting inside the tombs, they sent me down to check and see how bad it was, if it can be patched, they're expecting me back soon!" He scrambled underneath Luna and she tightened her grip on his hair and knocked his head down hard again.

"We can get out," she hissed in his ear. "And you're going to show us the path."

"You might as well kill me, I'll be dead anyway if I go out there, and so will you! The city is overrun. Every Walker from within a hundred miles is here in the city! You'll never make it!"

"Yes we will," Luna snarled. "Just take us to the edge," she grated between her teeth, coughing from the extended use of her throat.

Judith twitched and was about to say more when she heard the softest of growls coming from down the tunnel. The kid heard it too and began to struggle in earnest, making a racket as he scraped the stone. Luna hauled him up to his feet and kept her grip on his hair and the homemade blade at his throat, the curved metal fitting nicely over his neck. She leaned down into his ear and hissed, "Either get us out, or I'll cut you open and leave you for the biters as bait!"

"No, please, please, but I can't get you out! I don't know the way out of the city and even if I did, like I said, it's overrun, you won't make it, I swear on my life, please, let me go, please!"

"Oh for fuck's sake, stop whining like a dying cow," Judith snapped, slapping him upside the head which silenced his whimpering cries. "Jeeze, even Benjamin has more of a spine." She turned to Luna and gave her eye contact so she could read her lips.

"If he won't get us out, we only have one choice, to go back with him."

"Are you crazy?!" Luna grated in her throat. "Go back? After all of this?"

"Luna we don't have much choice!" Judith's voice was rising with panic. The growls were getting closer, she could already see the faintest of shadows oozing across the wall, a predecessor to an untold number of Walkers come to rip them limb from limb.

"I'm with her!" the kid panted, still faintly struggling against Luna.

"Take us with you, wherever it is you're going," Judith urged, grabbing Luna's wrist and pulling her knife away from the boy's throat. Luna glared and bared her teeth at Judith as the kid extricated himself from between them.

"We'll never get this close again," Luna snarled, her eyes blazing with an anger rivaling even that of her parents on their worst days.

"We don't have time to argue," Judith snapped. She turned to the boy who was squirming, trying to brush the debris and ick off of him from having been shoved to the sewer floor.

"She's right, we don't, we have to go, now, come on!" the kid took off running again as a group of biters rounded the corner and laid eyes on them, their hissing breaths filling the narrow stone tunnel. Luna growled angrily but chased after him and followed his lead with Judith right at her shoulder as the kid navigated them through a dizzying series of twists and turns, quickly leaving the first horde of biters in the dust but when they rounded a larger corner they were confronted with five more. The kid froze and skittered back, a panicked shriek rising in his throat but Luna quickly knocked him out of the way and plunged forward. She swung her knife and stabbed one in the skull cleanly, dropping it like a ton of bricks. Judith snatched up a piece of rock that had long since fallen from the wall and bashed another in the head repeatedly until it dropped back. Luna whirled and swung her blade and cut another biter through the skull, wrenching back hard when the ragged piece of metal snagged on fragments of bone and flesh. She kicked an approaching biter away and Judith rushed forward and smashed the rock into its temple. Luna spun and jammed her knife underneath another biter's chin, the tip of the narrow curved piece of metal sticking through the top of the skull. She yanked it free, a spray of acrid blood covered her hand and wrist. They stood still, panting for a moment as they caught their breath, the five biters laid out dead.

"Holy shit," the kid whispered as he saw the carnage wrecked in less than forty five seconds by the two girls. "Where the fuck did you learn to do that?"

Luna grinned at the backwards version of flattery. Like her mother, her pride and her ego was susceptible to being stroked as a way of soothing her riled temper. Judith on the other hand was paying more attention to the kid.

"What's your name?" she asked as she stood straight and wiped her palms on the knees of her jeans.

"Leland," he answered quietly, still looking at the bodies strewn across the floor and then at the two girls.

"I'm Judith Grimes, this is Luna Dixon," the elder explained as she finished recovering her breath.

Leland tilted his head and stared. "Dixon?" he asked, focusing his attention on Luna.

She twirled her knife in her palm and nodded. "What of it?" she demanded.

"I've heard some of the older guys tell stories about someone named Dixon. That he broke into one of our camps and killed a bunch of people."

Luna grinned and licked her lips and was about to answer but Judith cut her off. "We'll have time for spooky campfire stories later. I believe you said you know the way out?"

Leland nodded, urgency once again taking over his features. "This way."

He took off running again but more cautiously this time. Luna thought she recognized a stretch of tunnel here or there but really it was all one greenish, grayish, blackish blur. The smells were different though. Where they'd found Leland the air had been much warmer and smelled of moist clay and not quite as much water and stone. Now where they ran was all rock and slimy dampness that cloyed her nose in a bad way. The darkness was still suffocating and oppressive but she had no choice but to endure as Leland led them through a twisting labyrinth. The ground began to slope up and they approached what looked like a dead end but as they came closer Luna realized it was a T-junction, and situated on the wall was a ladder. Leland now paused and extricated a flashlight from his belt and aimed it at the wall. Painted on it was a large white check mark. He flicked the light between both girls and took a deep breath in.

"Alright, when we come out, we have to run the Gauntlet and then the yard. Once we clear those I have a key to get us into the CDC building and once there, well, we're home free." He grinned a little but Luna could see the stress in his face despite it. With the flashlight she could see the resemblance he bore to Glenn again and she nudged Judith, pointing this out.

"But only half," Luna added. "Not exactly like Glenn."

Leland stared at the two of them as they signed back and forth to each other. "What are you doing?" he demanded.

"She's deaf, this is how she communicates," Judith explained.

"So that's why her voice is all weird, I wondered," he responded. He opened his mouth to say more but paused when he heard rasping snarls coming from both ends of the intersection. "More on that later," he amended. He scrambled up the ladder and flipped a release lock on the underside of the trap door at the top of the ladder and quickly pushed the door open and disappeared into the outside world.

"After you," Luna hissed towards her sister. She kept a firm grip on her knife as Judith scrambled up the metal ladder and Luna followed right behind. They emerged onto the street in the middle of an intersection and as soon as Luna was clear Leland shut the trap door and then turned to them.

"Right, come on. Gauntlet first," he said hurriedly.

Luna gulped down as many breaths of the fresh air as she could, so grateful to be out of those cursed tunnels. She gripped Judith by the wrist to get her sister's attention.

"Come on, we have to try!" she hissed, trying to pull Judith away from where Leland was heading towards a swath of buildings and twisted streets.

"Luna, look!" Judith urged. She pointed to the skyscrapers and the surrounding cityscape and Luna felt a sharp sinking in her gut.

"We're back where we started. We'll never make it, not without a map or something to help us navigate. We haven't eaten and you haven't slept. You're shaking right now," she said, pointing out the obvious tremor in Luna's fingers and hands. "We don't have a choice."

Without another word Judith took Luna by the wrist and pulled her along after Leland who was already making his way up the street. When they caught up with him he was crouched behind the remains of a small convenience store that had long since been raided of anything of use. They saw what was indeed aptly named the Gauntlet; a half-mile stretch of straightaway pavement that was lined with buildings but directly beyond it was the lawn of the CDC and then the building itself. The entire road was crawling with biters, dozens, maybe even hundreds of them, ambling and shuffling about like oversized ants.

"How do you get through?" Judith asked, her breath forced through her clenched teeth to keep them from clattering together with fear.

"You run," Leland responded. Luna tilted her head and surveyed the situation carefully.

"Follow my lead," she whispered. She could already see the path of least resistance and she wasn't about to wait for it to fill with more corpses.

"Wait, you don't know what you're doing!" Leland angrily whispered as Luna darted into the street.

"Yes she does, trust her!" Judith urged. If anybody was going to see the best way through a sticky situation, it would be Luna, especially in the dark. She quickly followed her sister, moving swiftly to catch up, hearing Leland curse with fear and aggravation before following.

Luna plunged forward, not wasting time on trying to be subtle or quiet. She instinctively guessed that regardless of how much she tried to sneak past or blend in the biters would smell her and know she was live prey. Her best weapon was speed. She could feel her body shaking with the physical stress she'd put it under and she knew if it came down to a fight she wasn't going to last for long. She darted between three biters and skirted around a deserted car, scrambling up over the hood to avoid grabbing hands.

"Come on!" she urged, snatching Judith by the hand and hauling her up as Leland tried to dart around. She didn't wait for him but instead kept going, running the length of the car and jumping off before the biters could circle around to the trunk. She rushed forward, jumping and slashing with her knife just like her father had taught her when a corpse blocked her path. She darted right out into the middle of the street and bolted forward, her shoes scraping gritty pavement as she barreled ahead, trying not to squeal and cry out with fear when hands reached for her. She ducked through a horde of arms and shoved a biter out of the way violently and dared to glance a look back over her shoulder. Judith and Leland were right behind her, following her every step.

She suddenly swerved out of the main road towards the sidewalk. It was a risky move, she was chancing being penned in up against the buildings, but the path was clearer there than it was on the other side or in the street. Her legs burned for want of rest as she pushed forward, almost tripping as her legs struggled to keep pace with her feet. Her stomach clenched with severe nausea as physical exertion made her feel sick, coupled with the smell of the rotting corpses in their path. She bit back her gag just barely and ran, stabbing a biter through the forehead and casting the body aside as she veered away from a group of five and flung herself over the hood of another car and tumbled back into the street.

"Come on!" Leland urged, having been able to dart around the group when Luna had distracted them. They had reached the end of the Gauntlet and now had a mostly clear shot straight across the lawn to the CDC. Luna mustered the last of her strength and when Judith came and pulled her along she kicked her feet against the concrete for the last leg of their run.

They fled for their lives as the horde turned and converged on them. Every muscle in Luna's body burned and she was sure Judith was in a similar state judging from the sweat and anxiety soaking her face. Flashes of her family whipped across her mind's eye making it almost impossible to think straight as she staggered forward. Her grip on her homemade knife slipped but she managed to hold onto it as she followed Judith and Leland up the steps of the CDC to a side door where Leland was already working a key into the lock. They dove inside and Leland slammed the door shut and locked it tight just as the horde following them reached the steps of the great glass building.

Luna collapsed to the ground, trying not to groan as her body shuddered from exhaustion and pain. She curled in on herself, doing her ultimate best not to puke all over the floor.

"Luna, get up," Judith's signs against her arm were stiff and shaking, almost un-intelligible. Someone was coming down the hall quickly but if Luna understood , she either did not have the strength or the desire to get up.

"Ah Leland, I'm glad you made it back, and what's more, you brought back our newest guests."

Judith whipped her head up and saw Milton and a few other men standing over them. She picked herself up off the floor and forced Luna on her feet too. When Luna caught the scent of soft cotton and warm flesh she lifted her head and saw Milton standing there she bared her teeth.

"Still alive," she growled.

"Come on, we can discuss what happened downstairs. And you two can get cleaned up, you reek something awful." Milton wrinkled his nose in distaste and Luna had the desire, but not the energy, to crush the bridge of his nose a second time. Milton twisted to look at one of the men behind him. "Mal, why don't you take them down to the cells and get them settled in."

"Not the dorms, sir?"

Milton shook his head. "After the ruckus they caused, they need some time to cool down I think. Besides, the doctor is going to want to take a good look at them." He eyed Luna especially when he said this and Luna felt a thick coil of cold dread settle in her stomach.

Milton stepped aside and allowed the one he'd been speaking with to come forward. Luna kept her gaze fixed on him and was revolted to find that he was around their age, armed with a gun, and taking orders from a spineless coward like Milton.

"Traitor," she snarled in her throat.

The man paused for a moment and watched her closely. He reached forward and with strength that made Luna recoil he easily took her homemade knife out of her hand. He twirled it in his long fingers and then looked down at her and smirked.

"Nice job," he said, and Luna didn't need to hear his voice to hear the scathing tone in it.

"I'd like to see you do better," she growled. She was aware by now of course that her shirt was ripped to pieces and she was sure she had mud and grit and blood streaked all over her skin, her hair was a matted tangled mess, and she probably wouldn't have had the strength to fend off an angry cat but she would be damned if she lost face now.

He tilted his head, obviously noticing the difference in her speech. She took him in, even in the low half light of the dark hallway, noting the features in him. His grey eyes sparked like steel being struck with a sharp edge. Layers of shaggy sable brown hair framing his face which balanced right on the edge between boy and manhood. A thin trace of stubble dusted over his chin and jaw. He had enough sharpness in him to remind her of a coyote, but there was a smoothness that soothed the edges and kept him from looking pinched. He had a touch of Benjamin's upper crust pedigree, but she could see the shadows underneath his cheekbones, around his nose, and eye sockets that made him look almost haunted. He was taller than her, just as tall as her father, and built like him as well, broad in the shoulders and tapered in the waist and hips. She glanced up and down his arms and noted the lithe muscle of his arms and shoulders that moved with lazy grace underneath his shirt. And as she watched him, he watched her, and she had the distinct feeling of being sized up as well. It set her teeth on edge.

"Here it's not necessary," he said and she kept focused on the movements of his lips, which seemed permanently fixed in position to convey languid amusement and something just a little more sinister. Luna watched his long fingered hands very carefully as he moved towards her. Judith tensed next to her but Mal merely slid her home made knife into his belt and let his grip begin to close around Luna's upper arm. "Come on, you can barely walk."

Luna shoved him away with the last bit of her strength. The moment his vise like fingers began to close over her arm she internally began to panic, like a wild animal about to be touched, and she had reacted with as much force as she could muster. He took a step and a half backwards from the strength of her blow but she staggered as well and hit the wall with her shoulder. Judith darted in and helped to keep her from falling over. Luna resented it but she knew that she needed help to stand up.

"Go on then," Judith muttered, nodding towards Mal who rocked lightly on the balls of his feet as they all began to move away from the hallway and towards the more open atrium towards a more spacious hall that would take them deeper into the CDC. It was Leland who took the lead, Milton having caught a hold of Mal's eye and silently asking him for a word. When the others had pulled away sufficiently (and Milton blessed the fact that Luna was deaf and unable to hear their conversation anyway) he spoke in low tones towards Mal.

"Do me a favor would you, keep an eye on them, but especially Luna." The scientist's eyes were dark as he kept his gaze fixed on Luna's hunched over back.

"The one who can barely speak?" Mal questioned softly. Milton nodded and Mal offered up a questioning look. "Why me?"

Milton's lips tightened and he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "I think you will have a better chance of getting through to her than anybody. Her and her sister have done an awful lot of damage already, I'd like to keep them from tearing the whole place to the ground."

"I don't have time to babysit the two of them, me and the others still have a lot of work to do on the tunnels…" he would have continued but Milton cut him off.

"Don't worry, it won't be forever, just until she learns to trust us. She will in time, and I want you to help with that. It will make everybody's lives easier, trust me," Milton urged.

"It'll make _your_ life easier." Mal delivered this with tones that bordered on icy, yet they bit like fire. It was one of those uncanny things about Mal that he had to learn to live with. Milton shook it off as best he could.

"If she finds out our weaknesses, she could destroy everything we've built, and I wouldn't put it past her to do it out of pure spite." Milton's tone was serious enough to have Mal lower some of his sarcastic defenses.

"You're not worried about her sister? Isn't she the one who broke your nose?" This was spoken with poorly concealed amusement, which Milton glared at him for.

"Be that as it may, Luna is the one who will cause trouble. Judith has more sense than to go down in a blaze of glory as it were. The fact that they're here rather than being ripped to pieces right now in the city is proof of that."

Mal nodded and watched as Leland skittered off down another hall and Milton made to follow him. The scientist nodded once and then followed Leland, leaving Mal facing Luna and Judith. If the two girls had been up to speed rather than half dead with exhaustion and hunger he would be worried that they might try and overpower Mal, but even if they were at full strength, they would have a hard time managing Mal. Mal was like them in a way…he wasn't quite as feral as they were but he understood that mindset, and was easily able to react to it. Milton retreated down the hall with Leland and quieted the nervousness in his mind, resolved that even if somehow the two girls put up a fight, they were not going to be able to make it out of the building again.

Mal turned to the two girls and surveyed them carefully. From what he knew about them, even when it looked like they'd had just about all they could take, they should still be watched carefully. The fact that they had survived twelve plus hours away from the CDC deep inside the red zone of the city told him a great many things about them. He was curious about Judith who up to this point had said relatively little. It told him that she was probably more analytical, more likely to use her brain to figure a way out of a situation. It also told him that most likely she'd be more likely take a pause and wait to see what her opponent would do or was capable of before making a decision on her own. From around his neck he removed a long chain that held several keys, one of which he used to unlock the door to a flight of stairs.

"Come ladies," he said, holding the door open for them. Judith made to pull Luna along towards the step but Luna balked and extricated herself from under Judith's arm so she could stand on her own.

"We're not dogs to come as you call," she growled. Mal watched her blue eyes, bluer and sharper than any he had ever met before, and felt the tingle of a shiver go down his spine. Good lord if looks could kill he would have been incinerated. He flicked his tongue behind his teeth and summoned the necessary courage (or stupidity) to smirk at her.

"We're all animals," he said coolly. "And all animals can be domesticated."

Luna's fingers curled into fists and for a moment Mal wondered if she was foolish enough to try and hit him. It wouldn't have provoked him, she looked about as dangerous as a drowned sheep right now, but a different gleam was in her eye now. A stubborn, relentlessly tenacious, spiteful, loathing light that had every fiber of her anger directed straight at him, and as weakened as she was, it was still a powerful look.

"You'll die before you will collar me."

Mal tilted his head and watched her for a long moment. The way she drew herself up to her full height, the way she met his gaze with steady eye contact and did not even so much as blink or flinch away from him, the posture of her shoulders and the twisted expression on her mouth told him that unlike Judith who would temper her reaction to that of her opponent, Luna was so confident in her own capabilities that she didn't feel the need to make allowances for the situation at hand. There were two reasons for this- either she was blinded by the skills she thought she possessed, or she really was that experienced. Looking at her, Mal was inclined to believe that the truth was somewhere in the middle, but that light in her eye whispered of a wildness, a sharpness that he must not underestimate. If he did he knew instinctively that he would pay a steep price for it, others already had. Milton had told him about the two men she had brutally stabbed in trying to escape, and Mal had no doubt that if he gave any opportunity she would take advantage of it.

Judith turned to Luna and signed something to her and Mal watched with fascination at the quick, graceful movement of her fingers. Whatever it was she said Luna seemed discontented with the answer but she said nothing else. Judith took Luna under her arm again and together they made their way slowly down the stairs and Mal had to wonder if perhaps it would not have been better that they simply let this pair go. He did not doubt his words when he said that every animal could be domesticated, but he had to wonder if perhaps some of them just weren't worth the trouble.


	9. Chapter 9

_**Alright ladies and gentlemen, wonderful readers and reviewers, we are back again! Bit of a longer update this time, and it went through at least a half a dozen rounds of edits before I was satisfied. I hope you guys enjoy! **_

**RedneckBunny**: _I'm trying to figure out if reading this before bed was such a good idea...My dreams will be of this. But if my brain tries to dream up predictions of what you'll write next, they never live up to what you end up writing. I'm curious to know more about Leland and Mal. I don't think you'd give characters names if we weren't going to see more of them. How do you come up with your character's names? I get Luna's since she was explained in Wildflower but Leland and Mal. Any particular choice for their names? Names you like, name meanings, things like that? When I write, I tend to use a baby book actually. I like matching names to the personalities and qualities of my characters...or doing the opposite for comical reasons. Can't wait for more of this! I still wish I could read these in actual book form. Mix the awesomeness of your stories with the feel and smells and experience you get from turning the pages of a book... bookworm nerdy-gasm. _

Heh, ya know, I love to read before bed, it makes my dreams all that much more interesting. Sometimes things in my dreams find their way into my stories, since my dreams tend to be in that sort of fashion rather than scattered scenes. Oh trust me, you will see more of Leland and Mal for sure, Wolfsong will be chock full of my OCs because it is so much further in the future. As for how I come up with my charries names, typically I try to find something that matches their personality, or sometimes if I know someone with a name that reminds me of my charrie I will use said name. Or sometimes I just like a specific name, as was the case for Leland. Mal on the other hand was chosen because it reflects something of his personality (Mal is short for something else which will be revealed later if you haven't guessed it already) and this ties in a little bit with one of the over-arching theme of the story. Ooooh the wonderful feel of an actual book in ones hands, I will never switch to an electronic reading device, I am far too attached to my paper and ink, so I completely understand where you're coming from.

**Brittney**: This is getting more and more interesting by the chapter! I'm curious about Mal, sounds a bit like Merle... Update soon!

Heh, Mal in comparison to Merle…there are a few parallels between them now that I think about it, but I dare not give so much away ;)

**Emberka-2012**: _They returned there where they started. Bad news. In this CDC all such spineless and ready to be guinea pigs? Would be better if they let them go right away. Because the fear of Milton can quite come true and these girls will tear organization to pieces. And when their parents will come ... Wow, they remember Daryl and what he did._

It is bad news that they're back where they started but at the time it was do or die, and both Luna and Judith know its better to live to fight another day. As far as all the people living/working in the CDC they're not all spineless, but they've lived in relative safety and comfort for almost twenty years, that does a bender on your psyche. But Milton's fears are indeed valid, and they're about to find out how hard it will be to keep Judith and Luna pent up. And of course they remember what Daryl did to them…he was ruthless when he came to rescue Fox, and he'll only be just as ferocious this time, if not worse…

**FanFicGirl10**: _No they went through all the trouble to escape only to be caught willingly? Grrr! Why would they trust Leland, they should know better than that by now. Stupid Milton i don't like him in your story he's mean. Update Soon!_

It was do or die in that particular moment. Judith calculated the logistics and played the safe card. The city is overrun with Walkers and both she and Luna aren't in top form. It's better to live to fight another day than to run the risk of getting torn to pieces. They don't trust Leland, but it was between a rock and a hard place as it were. Ahh Milton, we'll dive deeper into his psyche as the story goes on, something which I most look forward too =)

**rosemarycr**: _This is getting exciting! I have so many questions, but I sure the answers will eventually be delivered! I don't even see this as a fanfic anymore... More of an original post apocalyptic story with some known characters. It's fascinating how you describe what the world has become. Don't you dare abandoning this_

Hah, I hope I deliver all that you guys crave! It is probably the most 'original' fanfic I've ever done, which poses both risks (some people don't like me taking my creative license out on TWD) but also wonderful challenges. Don't worry, I won't abandon Wolfsong. I managed to get through my block, I won't give up =)

**Guest**: _HI!. I love your writing and think you should try to write an actual book I think you would have a great shot at it being published. I'm not really sure what the hell you would write a story about but... ya anyways just saying. I really liked your story Wildflower and I'm so happy you decided to make a sequel. It is absolutely amazing so far. I can definitely see both Daryl and Dahlia in Luna haha!. Ooo I wonder if Mal and Leland will become more prominent characters in the future 'wiggles eyebrows'. Haha! Okay can't wait for the next chapter so hurry up and update woman!._

Well as it would so happen I am working on an original book. I have written many, many, MANY original stories already, some finished, some half constructed ideas. I'm delighted you are enjoying Wolfsong as much as you did Wildflower, I gave Wildflower everything I had in me as a writer, and I am doing double as much on Wolfsong because it is more 'original' than Wildflower. I'm so glad you see both of Luna's parents personalties come through in her, it's hard finding a balance but I do my best, and it's one of the cool challenges to writing her character. Oh don't worry, Mal and Luna will definitely become prominent charries, along with a few others who haven't been revealed yet but are coming along shortly. Thanks for taking the time to write in!

* * *

Michonne guided them through the backside of the base, showing them a well hidden and relatively well maintained trail that was just wide enough for their vehicles to slip through. The narrow mountain pass made everyone driving leery, not to mention their newest addition. Benjamin wouldn't go any closer to her than absolutely necessary, choosing to ride with Maggie and Glenn while Michonne took his usual spot in Rick and Carl's vehicle. Taking her along unsettled Daryl but it was a necessary risk. If she could help get them out of the mountains and back down to a faster road towards Atlanta, it was worth having to put up with. Besides, she didn't seem like the type to want to stick around and leech off of their resources (of which there weren't that many) anyway. He knew instinctively that Fox was curious about her, the fact that she used a blade appealed to her greatly. Even after almost twenty years of continuous use, Fox had not lost her preference for her knives, or her unwillingness to pick up a gun unless absolutely necessary. He supposed it was one of those things about her that would never change.

"Shit," he cursed quietly and began to kill speed on his bike as they began making the start of the most treacherous point of descent towards the valley.

"What is it?" Fox asked, lifting her head off his shoulder, her grip tensing on his waist.

"Running low on gas. Damn near empty," he explained. He killed the engine entirely, shutting it down and putting the kickstand up as the rest of the convoy also came to a halt when they realized he was no longer following them. He swung off the bike as did Fox and stretched his legs for a minute while the others piled out.

"Gas?" Rick asked as he came around from his car.

"Yeah. I'm down to fumes, this terrain killed the mileage." He flicked his tongue around his mouth and spat on the ground to clear the taste of dust and then cast his eyes on Michonne.

"They have gas down there in the valley?" he asked.

She nodded. "Under heavy guard. It's probably one of their most guarded caches." Her eyes grew dark. "I really would suggest not trying to steal it from them. It won't end well for you."

"Can we shuffle what we've got around? Give a little to Daryl to get us through the valley where we can scavenge anything left?" Benjamin asked.

"I'm almost onto fumes as it is, I have enough or another fifty miles, that's it." Rick's voice was heavy with stress.

"Same, we're almost out," Glenn added wearily.

"We don't have time to go on foot to bring back more from outside the valley," Fox growled, her knuckles clenching.

"Do you really want to risk a fight?" Maggie demanded.

"How many people live down there in the valley? What kind of artillery do they have?" Rick asked Michonne who was leaning up against the truck that Carl had brought back the day Luna and Judith had been taken.

"I don't think it's quite a hundred, fifty…maybe seventy five people. Women and children too, not just men. But they've got guns, and bullets to back them up. They've been in the valley for a long time as far as I can tell, at least as long as I've been in the area. Every so often they send out scavenging parties to bring back things like gasoline and medical supplies. This whole area is almost drained dry of resources, from here to about a hundred miles out in any direction. Whatever is left they've got in the valley under a watch. They got paranoid after the men in the base came into the valley trying to take their supplies. They drove them off if that should give you some indication of what they're capable of."

Daryl cursed. "Fox is right. We don't have time to go all the way out of the valley and bring the gasoline back."

"We can't go on foot," Rick countered. "Maybe we can negotiate."

"With what?" Glenn growled angrily. "We don't have a lot of anything to give away."

"The medicine." Benjamin's voice was heavy, but his eyes were bright. "There's very little in this world more valuable than the medical supplies we have."

"And what happens if one of us is injured? Sick?" Fox countered. She thumbed the edge of her knife's sheathe. Daryl could feel the heat simmering just underneath her skin. If she had her way, she would fight. Fox had never backed down or said no to a challenge in her life, most especially if there was bloodshed involved. He had not forgotten that cold snowy day when he'd awoken to Fox leaving the tent, leaning over and kissing him briefly saying she'd be back and when he asked why she was leaving she had merely said "Because I have to." He had known then where she was going- with Rick to put an end to Shane and all his madness, and he knew instinctively that she wasn't going just to help, she was going to do the bloodletting herself. And when she had returned to him she'd been soaked in an enemy's blood. He had no doubt, even with twenty years of peace to cool her down, that she would be just as vicious now. He hoped that it was only because she was so hell-bent to retrieve Luna and Judith as quickly as possible, but there was a part of him that suspected it was because Fox yearned for the challenge, to pit herself against an adversary, and win. Daryl fought if and when it was needed, and no one who had ever seen him fight could ever say that he never put his whole heart into it, especially when defending someone he loved. But he did not actively seek violence or bloodshed if he could help it. Fox on the other hand was just shy of asking for it.

Rick shifted his weight uneasily and Daryl took a note of the way Michonne was watching them carefully. He was curious about her. Her silence told him she was weighing everything and considering the options. He wasn't about to put money on the idea that she'd help them if they got into trouble, but he liked the idea of another tactile mind chewing things over.

"We're out-numbered and by the sounds of it outgunned. I don't want to risk a battle. Not when we can't afford it." Rick's voice had so much weight in it, it was a wonder that he didn't sink through the earth like a rock sinking into a pond.

"We can't give away our supplies!" Carl snarled angrily. "We need them! We risked our lives on those runs. You're gonna throw all that away?"

"If it means we get your sister and Luna back sooner and safer? Yes!" Rick snapped, rounding on his son, his eyes flashing like blue green coals. "They are our priority. The sooner we get them back, the better."

"We have enough gasoline to get down to the mountain, that's it. Maybe we can get down there, see what the situation really is. Maybe it's not as bad as we think and we can pilfer or trade if we need to. We don't have to trade everything. We don't have to tell them exactly how much of anything we have." Maggie looked at Glenn, a little thrum of anxiety running through her. She needed Glenn to back her up on this compromise. The others would give it more weight if he did. Sparks flashed between them and she saw the wheels spinning in his head.

"She's right," Glenn murmured quietly. Reservation and anxiety twisted in his stomach, but he wasn't about to leave Maggie hanging, not when he'd sided against her when Fox had her little meltdown the night before. "We don't have to show all our cards. Just enough to tempt them if we have to."

"Yeah, just enough to tempt them into stealing everything. If there are as many as you say, they can come and overwhelm us." Fox's voice was brittle.

"We won't let that happen," Daryl assured her, his fingertips slowly stroking the handle of his bow. "We can shuffle the supplies between the cars and split up what we have. Keep the most valuable for ourselves and only show what we are willing to part with. The rest of us will be with what's more important to defend it incase they come looking."

Rick's mind spun and all the while he kept one eye trained on Michonne. Her silence unnerved him, but as Daryl was speaking he saw a certain gleam of agreement catch her eye. He looked at her and she shifted her weight, clearly not enjoying that the spotlight was now on her. He expected her to say something but she remained as silent as the grave. Or as silent as graves had been before the outbreak.

"Fine. We'll go to the bottom of the mountain. Can you get us inside where the gas is on foot?" Rick asked.

She nodded. "I can't guarantee we won't be seen though. There's so many of them that it'll almost be impossible to get through without being spotted."

"Maybe we should wait for dark then," Benjamin pitched in.

"It'll be dark by the time we get down there," Carl growled. "Let's just go." His fingers drummed against the holster of his gun. "We're wasting time."

"Alright. We drive to the bottom of the mountain, stash the vehicles, and rearrange the supplies and then slip inside." Rick's voice picked up that general like quality, the one that when he used made people snap to, whether they really agreed or not, but trust Fox to throw a wrench into a well-oiled machine.

"Who goes in?" she asked. She eyed Rick with an almost hungry light in her eye. Nobody really needed to even ask to know she wanted to be one of the ones going in. Rick however was hesitant to bring her along. Fox was a helluva fighter, she always had been, but she was also great at provoking people to anger. No, in order for this to work they needed to appear not necessarily weak…but not hostile either. He looked at the group, weighing the options carefully, knowing that his choices could make or break this operation.

"Me, Michonne, and Benjamin. Daryl, Fox, Carl, Glenn, Maggie- you stay put at the vehicles and deal with anything that comes your way. If you're overwhelmed, retreat up the mountain, we'll find you."

Daryl opened his mouth to protest but Rick shot him a look. "I've learned enough about tracking from you by now to know how to find you if you had to run."

An uneasy peace settled over the group. None of them were particularly happy about the arrangement, but to just have a plan at all helped to put their minds at ease, at least partially. Daryl felt wrong, leaving Rick to go into hostile territory without being there to back him up. For almost twenty years he'd stood at Rick's side, protecting him, making sure he shot down anything that got too close to killing his friend while Rick was busy forging a safe path ahead for the rest of the group. They all split back up and headed for their vehicles, Fox following close behind Daryl as they went back to the bike.

"I don't like this," she said as she swung up behind him while he cranked up the engine.

Daryl shrugged. "Don't have much choice. Sides, Rick can handle himself."

"Yeah, and Benjamin is about as tough as wet tissue paper. And we have no idea what Michonne might do." She snaked her arms around Daryl's waist and squeezed a little as he started down the mountain following the rest of the vehicles. She made a valid point but Daryl tried to put it out of his mind. Rick was a leader for a reason, he understood people, he knew how to negotiate and soothe riled feelings better than most. They would just have to trust that almost twenty years of isolation had not stolen that quality from him.

When they reached the bottom of the mountain they continued driving until they were a quarter mile away from the beginnings of the buildings that marked the enemy's territory. They stashed their vehicles in a lot after clearing out a few straggling Walkers, everyone feeling incredibly exposed as they darted back and forth quickly to secure the area. Daryl's bike was all but wheezing with the need of gasoline by that point and when he shut the engine off he had to wonder if he'd ever be able to get it going again without fuel. He helped the group re-arrange the supplies, mostly directed by Benjamin who would know what was the most valuable and what could be parted with if necessary.

"Do we need to bring our own containers for the gas or do they have it packed up already?" Rick asked Michonne as they finished divvying up the supplies.

"It's stored in a big tanker. When they need fuel they just feed directly into the vehicles," she explained. She adjusted the sword across her back, her fingers flexing around the handle of the blade as she kept a wary eye on Fox, who in turn kept just as close a watch on her, just shy of baring her teeth in aggravation at being forced to stay behind.

"Alright, bring our containers, let's go, before it gets any darker," Rick ordered. If they were successful, they'd be able to carry enough gasoline back to get them out of the valley and a little further, just enough to hopefully be able to find more where they could refuel their tanks entirely.

Michonne took the lead as they started up the road, Rick following just behind. He had his python strapped to one hip, his machete on the other. Every time the large weapon bounced against his thigh he recalled a very cold winter night when his breath had fogged and he had gone an almost literal twelve rounds with Fox in hand to hand combat as she struggled to give him an outlet for the pent up rage from Lori's death. At the time he hadn't really realized how close he might have come to accidently killing her. He knew that she'd be aggravated at him for leaving her behind but he knew better than to risk her hotheaded temper screwing this up. He kept a wary eye on Michonne and her sword and as they kept moving up the street towards another cluster of buildings he asked "Why the sword?"

She fixed him with an almost smirk, her dark eyes flashing in the emerging moonlight overhead. "Doesn't run out of ammo."

"Oh come off it. You got the whole badass thing going on," Benjamin panted as he brought up the rear of their little group. He had his pistol in his belt along with a bowie knife that Fox had painstakingly attempted to teach him how to use properly. With Benjamin it was a bit of a lost cause for weaponry unless it came down to an immediate life or death struggle.

"Well there's that too," Michonne conceded with a bit of a smile towards Benjamin who raised his eyebrows. Rick shushed them as they crouched down behind the corner of a building and paused. Michonne slid forward and carefully looked beyond the corner where they were hiding and saw a small patrol heading their way.

"The gas is in the middle of town in what used to be the back parking lot of a school. It's fenced in and they built guard towers around it after the men at the base tried to invade," Michonne explained. "Its an open field all the way around it, we won't get through without being seen, unless we circle around and come in from the back, through the school itself."

"Can you get us in?" Rick asked, his voice hissing with tension.

She nodded. Just at that moment the patrol she had seen comprised of two men with rifles began to walk past them and they all pressed back around the building and held their breath. When they were twenty feet beyond them Michonne darted forward, moving at a smooth but fast paced crouch, sticking close to the porches and doorways of the buildings. Rick and Benjamin stayed right on her shadow, moving swift and as silently as possible. Rick's heart was pounding in between his teeth and all the tension in his body would have had him running like a mad man for their target but he knew that he had to trust his instincts and go by stealth, not all out speed. They paused when they reached another intersection and right on the diagonal corner was the school. At each end of the street along with two in the middle were guard towers, just like Michonne had said, and even from this distance Rick could see there were people inside.

"Now what?" Benjamin demanded as he caught his breath. "We'll never get past that unseen."

"Is the school clear of Walkers?" Rick asked Michonne.

"As far as I know it is. I can't imagine they'd leave any inside." Her eyes narrowed and she shifted her look from mild concern to anticipation and maybe anger.

"Oh no. I said I'd get you in, I didn't say anything about being bait!" she growled.

"Someone has to distract them!" Rick insisted. "Someone's got to give them something to chase while we slip inside!"

"Me." Benjamin said and to his credit he was able to say it without trembling, although his New York accent peaked through sharply. "I'll run."

"You're not the fastest or the strongest out of either of us," Rick dismissed him but Benjamin clapped a hand on his shoulder.

"Nah, but I'm the smartest." His hazel eyes flashed with pained amusement. "Go on. Take Amazon over there and get inside and get the gasoline we need. I'll run interference and meet you back here." He handed the containers over to Rick and Michonne and tightened up the laces on his sneakers.

"And what happens if you get caught?" Rick demanded. Even after all this time Benjamin was still pleased to see that Rick's concern wasn't just because he had medical expertise, but because he was part of the family. Like Fox, he too had felt a measure of wariness and distrust from the other members of camp when he'd first joined them all those years ago in the mountains in New York. It hadn't lasted as long as Fox's had, but he was still aware of the fact that he wasn't from Atlanta like they were, he hadn't seen quite the destruction, pain, and death that they had, and he hadn't gone through all of the trials that they had. He was glad to see that despite being strained and fractured from the distress of losing Luna and Judith they were managing to keep the bonds between them strong, rather than fragmented.

"They won't hurt me," Benjamin soothed. "I'm a medic. And I've got the supplies," he tapped the side of the backpack he had on. "If there is as many people here as Michonne says, there's bound to be a few that are sick or injured." He flashed a smile and to his credit, there was less fear there than Rick would have expected normally. "Don't worry about me. Just don't take too long." Now the worry crept up in his voice again and he had to silence the rapid thrumming of his heart, or at least attempt it. Sweat broke out on his palms but he got up from his crouch and darted straight out into the middle of the street, making like he would go for the gate of the school that guarded the tanker. He could have been a little more obvious but he knew that if his interference was too exaggerated that they might suspect it for what it was. His balance worked beautifully and almost immediately spotlights were trained right on him, leaving him exposed and sited right in the middle of the empty road.

"Ah shit," he panted when he saw doors for the towers opening and men coming out. He took off running, daring a glance over his shoulder and out of the very corner of his vision he saw Rick and Michonne darting for a patch of shadows that would lead them to the dark gauntlet that ran between another building and the school fence. He twisted back around and ran, his chest gasping for air as he ran for the darkness knowing the cover would help hide him. He lunged down a street hearing the loud pursuit of his followers and his instinctive paranoia told him he heard the clicking of a gun loading a bullet into the chamber. He shoved away his jittery nerves to prevent himself from bolting all the way back to where Daryl and the rest of the cavalry were waiting as he twisted hard again and flung himself up onto a porch and then inside the building itself through the surprisingly unlocked door.

"Just like in school eh?" he told himself as his chest heaved for breathe. He peaked out the front window trying to see if the patrol had noticed that he'd ducked inside and to his dismay saw a group of three burly men headed straight for him.

He slipped through the building and out the back door but it put him right in the main street which another few men noticed. He yelped when bullets pinged near him and he took off as fast as his lean legs could take him. He almost considered dropping the pack to lighten his load so he could run faster but he knew that the supplies he had with him would likely be his bargaining chip if he got caught. He swerved and tried to fling himself down the street that he and the others had come by on the way here but he was surrounded.

"Hands up where we can see them!"

He put on his best brave face and held up his hands as men swooped in to corner him in the middle of the street. He was shoved unceremoniously to his knees and the heel of someone's hand clocked him hard in the back of his head, tipping him forward. He redressed his balance and stared up at the man in front of him, a man who actually reminded him a bit of Shane, holding a very large automatic rifle, and who was staring down at him with a look that reminded of a mountain lion just about to spring on a helpless goat.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he growled, still staring down at Benjamin with pitiless eyes.

"Passing through," Benjamin replied. He could hear his voice shaking, his accent coming on thick. He was surrounded by at least ten men, all of them armed. He was armed too but there was no way he'd be able to draw fast enough to be of any real threat.

"Oh really? Whatcha got here then?" the man asked. He nodded to one of his fellows who knocked Benjamin to the ground, cutting his lip on the rough concrete, and ripping his backpack with his medical supplies off, wrangling his arms at the same time.

"Be careful with that!" Benjamin panted. "You don't want to break what's in there!"

"Why? You got a bomb or something pretty boy?" Shane's counterfeit sneered. He jerked Benjamin by the chin and smacked him hard across the face.

"There's medicine in there!" Benjamin panted, trying to ignore the stinging burn in his skin. "Little glass vials of powerful drugs that you really don't want to waste."

The leader narrowed his eyes and nodded to his men. They began to go through the backpack while a few others kept Benjamin covered with the gun. He tried not to show that his hands were shaking. Where the hell were Rick and Michonne? Had they run into trouble? He knew Rick wouldn't leave him behind, but maybe Michonne had seen shit hit the fan, bolted, and now Rick was a hostage too. A fine time to wish that they'd brought some of their firepower with them.

"Are you one of those scientist freaks from up the mountain?" The question was posed by Shane's look-a-like.

"You know them?" Benjamin asked. Maybe he could talk his way out of this. That was what he'd been counting on anyway, wasn't it? He tried to smooth out the shaking in his voice as much as he could.

"We know 'em," the man replied. "They came in here and raided some of our food stores and our gasoline. But that wasn't the worst bit. They killed three of us when they came!"

Benjamin's eyes went wide. "When did this happen?" he asked.

"It's none of your business!" the man snarled coldly. "If I had to bet money I'd say you're in league with them, coming down here to spy on us and see if there's anything else you can take, well I'll tell you, I won't have it!" He struck Benjamin across the cheek with the butt of his rifle, sending the medic down to the ground, stars spinning around his skull. A heavy boot was pressed into his back and then the muzzle of the rifle against the nape of his neck. Panic flooded over him like a dousing of freezing water.

"Wait, no, please, I'm not with them, I swear!" He could hear the whine in his voice and he'd berate himself later if he managed to wriggle his way out of this. "Please! Listen! I'm with another group; we're not from around here! They've hurt our people too!"

"Is that so?" the man hissed. "Where the hell is the rest of your group then?"

Benjamin shut his trap, doing his best to think on his feet. Or on his belly as it were, with his cheek grinding into the pavement. "We don't want trouble! Take the medicine in my bag, just let me go, please! We're just passing through, we're on our way to get our kids back!" He blurted it out before he could stop himself.

"Kids?" the man growled. "The hell you talking about?"

"Two days ago two teenage girls who are apart of our group were kidnapped by the same men from the same base that raided your town. My group and I are on our way to retrieve them. Please, understand, we don't want any trouble, I swear." There was a very tense, heavy silence above him and the muzzle of the rifle was still grinding into the nape of his neck. His heart was hammering in his throat making him feel dizzy and sick to his stomach as he tried to keep quiet and not squirm like a worm on a hook.

"Hey assholes! Why don't you get your own squeaky toy and give that one back to us!"

Benjamin's heart pinged like a squirrel on cocaine inside his chest. He knew that voice and while it was a God-send, it was also a sign shit had gone from bad to worse in some ways.

"Who the fuck are you?" He heard more than saw the men turn around. He did his best to see but the angle of his head didn't afford him any sight more than clusters of boots.

"The end of you if you don't let him off the ground and give him back to us right now!" Fox's growl was beyond threatening. It was a promise. He heard the clicking of a gun and his mind spun wildly at the prospect of the O.K. fucking corral going down with him right in the middle of it.

But suddenly the pressure of the foot in his back was gone and the muzzle of the rifle was removed from his neck. He scrambled up to his feet and looked to see Daryl, Carl, and Fox, all with guns blazing. Fox smirked at him, but Daryl and Carl's faces were stony masks of promised violence.

"Benjy get over here," Fox called. She held her forty-five caliber pistol with ease and poise, as if she'd been doing it all her life. Benjamin glanced at her and then at his bag that they'd taken which was clutched in the hands of one of his captors. He decided it wasn't worth starting a possible shoot out over and so he skittered out from the circle of his attackers and back to his group.

"Leaving this behind?" one of them asked, gesturing to the bag of medicine.

"Consider it a bargain. Ain't worth anybody dying over tonight," Daryl answered. "You follow us, we'll fire."

"Where the hell are Rick and Michonne?" Benjamin hissed to Fox who was still covering the men with her gun.

"With Glenn and Maggie. These guys sounded an alarm not ten minutes after you guys left, we came as backup," Fox explained. They began to back away slowly, still holding all of their weapons out, everyone barely breathing as the intruders began to retreat deeper and deeper into the shadows. "We brought the vehicles through and filled our tanks while you were distracting them. Nice going Benjy. Never thought you had it in ya." She flashed him a toothy smile and Benjamin rolled his eyes.  
"Happy to help," he panted, shaky disbelief rattling through his nervous system.

"Come on!" Daryl urged. Carl took point as they disappeared down a corner and onto another street that for the moment was empty but within seconds of their arrival their convoy emerged. Everyone broke cover and ran for it, not knowing if anybody else in the town would try to gun them down or ambush them some other way. Fox swung up behind Daryl after sheathing her pistol and he gunned the engine hard, the machine rumbling much more cleanly now that she had a full tank of fuel.

Daryl led the convoy so he wouldn't be forced to eat dust the whole way out of town. They came across a few of the town's inhabitants but they refused to stop, rather instead they picked up speed, Daryl gunning the engine to almost eighty miles an hour as they found the highway out of town and blew through as fast as they could. Fox clutched his waist tightly, laughing as the wind tore her hair back. His lips twitched in brief amusement as well but his was not for the same reason.

When they were out of town by at least fifteen minutes at high speed Daryl twisted around to glance back and see if anyone was following. He saw no headlights or any other signs of pursuit but he did catch Rick's signal asking him to pull over. He did so and the others followed, cutting their engines off and regrouping quickly.

"Everybody alright?" Rick asked, most notably to Benjamin.

The blonde medic nodded, wiping a streak of blood away from his face. "I'm ok. They were a little rough but I'm fine."

"What all did we lose?" Carl demanded.

"Half our antibiotics, half our bandages, two bags of saline, some sterile needles, couple tourniquet ties…" Benjamin rattled off the list and Carl's expression morphed from aggravation to anger.

"Was there anything we didn't lose?" he growled hotly.

"We still have the most potent of our antibiotics left, my tools, most of our painkillers, some saline, and everything in our emergency medicine kits." Benjamin dabbed at the blood leaking from his face and then shook his head with a sigh. "It was either that or shoot 'em up. I'm just glad we got out when we did."

Rick nodded. "Come on. We need to find someplace secure to hole up to get some rest. Michonne, what's in the area that's big enough for all of us?"

The black woman shifted uncomfortably with all of the eyes suddenly turned towards her. "Wouldn't know. I roughed it out in the woods for the most part," was her answer. Daryl's eyes hardened as the tension between the rest of the group began to spark again.

"You planning on staying with us or moving the hell on?" Daryl growled softly. It wasn't his intention to try and scare her off, but he would if he thought it necessary.

"I'm interested in seeing what these CDC men are up to. I typically live alone but there might just be safety in numbers." She fixed Daryl with a firm, unflinching look. It was so reminiscent of Fox and how she used to dig in her heels with him when they'd first met that he was taken back just a bit.

"If you're going to travel with us, you have to play by our rules, you got that?" Rick's voice was intimidating and harsh but Michonne did not seem to be frightened. Beside him at his shoulder Carl tensed markedly but Rick ignored him for the most part. Or at least tucked it into the back of his mind for now. He would deal with his son's discontent when they had the chance.

Michonne gave a sharp, tense nod of agreement towards Rick and the sheriff turned to the rest of them. "Come on, we need to put more distance between us and them. We'll find somewhere to rest eventually."

When they did finally find a place to rest it was well after the sun rose and were more or less forced to stop because they were beginning to swerve drunkenly. They'd found another little backwoods town and cleared out an abandoned fire house of half a dozen biters before parking their vehicles inside the garage where the fire trucks were formerly housed. They checked the building for any kind of supplies but found nothing of value. They shut the garage doors tight and after double checking to make sure all of the doors were locked and the blinds on the windows were down they stretched out with their sleeping bags on the floor near their vehicles and did their best to get some sleep, but Fox couldn't rest. She tossed and turned on her sleeping bag, shifting and curling restlessly trying to get comfortable. Finally giving up she got up off her sleeping bag and snagged her pistol and buckled her belt of knives back onto her waist before slipping off to take up a position in the upstairs living quarters of the firehouse where she could keep watch out the window. She dared to push it open and inhale the wonderfully cool night breeze as she sat on its ledge and stared out into the darkness. She tried not to look but was unable to stop herself from staring at the sky and the crescent moon that hung there and her heart gave a fierce stab of pain. Unbidden and unwanted memories came to flood her consciousness, the first few nights after Luna was born, her getting up at the sound of her cries, holding her close and soothing her back to sleep. The gentle melody of the acoustic guitar that she used to sometimes quiet her down as Daryl held her and gently paced their room, the steady motion of his rocking helping to ease her distress. Another memory of Luna at age three bouncing along happily near her mother's legs as she guided her down to the shallow, slow moving section of the river, Luna giggling with delight when the cool water splashed over her bare feet, looking back to grin at her, asking with short signs for her mother to join her in the water. A nameless night coming home empty handed in the winter from a hunt and finding Luna and Daryl on the couch, Luna curled into Daryl's chest, his bright eyes telling her that Luna had tried to stay awake to wait up for her, the warm happy hum of contentment when Fox had carefully lifted Luna off her father's chest and held her close before carrying her to bed.

More recollections greeted her and she struggled to suppress them, willfully forcing herself to think of other days before the pain tore her to pieces. Days before they'd built their homes, days when they'd still been on the run, before she had been a mother. Given their current situation of living on the road it wasn't hard to remember. Pain moved through her like the soft lapping of water at the shore as she recalled all of the lives their family had lost between then and now. She found herself rocking back and forth slowly, very quietly humming snatches of the songs she used to play then. She recalled the long tangled strands of her red hair that had once burned like scarlet flame in the fierce Georgia sunlight and the days when the dance between her and Daryl had been just a hair's breath away from tearing each other to pieces. She felt hollow and wrung out, strangled and suffocated, right on the very edge of losing her already tenuous grip on reality.

She heard Daryl's footstep before she saw him. In days passed as soon as she'd heard him she would have straightened her face and refused to let him see her distress, but now she turned and got up off the window seat and went to him. She buried her face into his chest and shuddered for a moment while his arms wrapped around her back and shoulders and held her close. Normally he would have been content not to speak, but he knew that she needed it and so he found the words she needed.

"We'll find her. We'll find her, and we'll get her back. I promise."

After a minute she pulled back and gazed at him before leading him back to the window seat where he joined her. "I don't understand how all of this happened. Me meeting you, the group, us surviving all this time, Luna, and then losing her…I just…I don't get it." She wiped her eyes, struggling to keep back the hot sting of salty tears. She dared to look at Daryl and seeing the reflection of her daughter's eyes made it impossible for her not to let the tears drip down her cheeks. "Is this my karma? Is this God's way of punishing me for all the things I've done?"

"No, Dahlia, you can't think like that," Daryl assured her. "I'm pretty sure after everything you've done, good and bad, the old guy in the sky wouldn't do this to you."

Fox wiped her eyes, scrubbing at her cheeks, trying to stem the tears. "I'm not so sure," she said softly. After a few minutes she clenched her teeth and pushed back from him a little. "Fuck this regret shit. I don't do it for a reason. This fucking reason." She wiped her eyes again and curled her fingers into fists so tight that her knuckles cracked. "I made mistakes, I abandoned my mother and my sister…I got some of my closest friends killed…I played God and killed a man who hurt people I love…but damn it all, I did the best that I could do in the given situation." She clenched her teeth and stared up at the sky with cold fury in her eyes. "I almost died protecting the ones I love. Why do I have to lose one of the only things I can't live without? What more do I have to prove that I am worthy!" She slammed her fist into the side of the wall and Daryl jolted. He slid closer to her and took her hands in his own, his calloused fingertips stroking over her skin.

"Dahlia, listen to me," he murmured. "This had nothing to do with some big eye in the sky making judgment calls or dangling happiness at the end of a string in front of you just to snatch it away for kicks. This is just life. Shit fucking just happens sometimes and there's nothing you can do about it. Sometimes you can't control it." He leaned closer to her and cupped her cheek, threading his fingers into the edges of her hair. "Remember what I told you all those years ago, back on the plantation right before the herd drove us off?"

"You asked me to trust you." The memory burned strong in her mind's eye and made her eyes glow brightly with barely repressed tears.

"Do you?" he asked softly. Now he held her face in both his hands, forcing her to maintain his eye contact. He could see she was struggling not to come undone, that it was taking every ounce of her control to just bare the pain. He knew the answer she'd give but he wanted her to say it. Not for him, for her. When faced with distress he shut down, he forced everyone and everything away until he could master himself and only allow what he comfortable with people seeing to show through. She was different. When she struggled on the verge of coming undone she allowed the full strength of her emotions to pull her like a rockslide giving out under her feet, and never mind the pile of broken bones waiting for her at the bottom of the cliff. It didn't matter too much to her in that particular moment if her spine was broken at the bottom and she could feel nothing. He'd seen that in her time and time again. After all this time, his little wildflower was still given to allowing the full rush of her emotions to destroy her. It was his job to protect her from herself, as he had been doing since the first moment he had met her. He held her gently and steadied her as she exhaled, her lips shaking as she found her speech.

"Yes."

The word rasped between her teeth with tears that began to trickle free from her eyes. He could feel her shaking even as his thumb traced the ridges of one of her scars. She shivered at the sensitivity and silently asked for what only he could give her. It wasn't his way, and in truth he was so tired that he would rather have just gone back downstairs and laid down with her to sleep but she needed more. She needed more and she was pleading with him to help take the load of what was breaking her. And he would, as she had done so many times for him in so many different ways.

He leaned down to kiss her and she responded immediately. She tasted like pain and the crumbling edge of despair and his heart hurt to feel it in her. The salt of her tears brushed his cheeks even as he pulled her closer to him. She pushed him off the window seat and stood up, chasing his mouth with hers and when she claimed him her teeth sunk into his lip enough to draw blood even as her hands scrabbled at the rest of him. She yanked his clothes away from him as if they personally offended her and when he didn't get her undressed fast enough to please her she did it herself, huffing with exertion as she tore the laces of her boots off and kicked them off her feet before she stripped the rest of her clothes. She all but pounced on him and now he shook off his exhaustion and laid everything out on the line. It was what she needed and even though he was physically shaking from the need to rest he gave her all that she could handle. Her nails raked down his back and shoulders, digging uncomfortably into his scars as she hung on for dear life. He fisted his fingers tightly into the back of her head through her hair and held her as tightly as he could, trying to physically hold her together before she shattered.

She poured into him everything that was destroying her from the inside out. The edges of his sanity began to spark and crackle with the threat of unraveling even as the pleasure and pain spiraled higher and higher into a dizzying peak that had him almost biting through his lip to keep quiet even as her teeth sank so hard into his shoulder that she tasted a flush of blood, and still she would not stop. Still she begged him for more. He growled against her throat and clutched her tight, fingers bruising at her hips and thighs even as her back scraped every surface of the upstairs room, including the glass of the window. He held her up and bore down on her even as her head tipped forward and she bit down on his neck. The force of her bite was so much that blood leaked from between her teeth and pain rippled through him enough to distract him from the peak of climax. She added fresh lines from her nails to the small of his back and his flanks, clawing and kicking at him even and finally he could take no more of the pain she inflicted on him and with a rough twist of his hands on her hips he forced her onto her knees, coming up behind her and sinking in low and deep, biting the nape of her neck hard enough to draw blood. She whimpered as her head sank between her arms but still he did not stop, biting down harder still and driving her to the brink. She muffled her scream against her arm and his against her neck and shoulder, blood flushing over his tongue as he quelled the sounds of his undoing.

It went on like this for hours, all night, until finally he collapsed into a pile of sweaty limbs, damp hair, and blood smeared skin. His limbs were tangled as he lay on his side to avoid putting pressure on his bloody back, every point of him aching and pleasure spent. It was like he'd been run through with a battering ram at every inch of his body, and though it hurt, he was so worn down and so satiated that the pain was just a dull companion to his exhaustion. He'd only felt like this a few times in his life, where he'd pushed himself so hard for so long that he thought he might not actually be able to move anymore. Right now he didn't see any reason to move and so he just lay still on the concrete floor of the upstairs room and just breathed, savoring the smell of sweat and sex and blood, a warm dizzy burn of contentment slowly working its way through his blood like a few shots of good whiskey.

"Daryl, we have to get up." Her voice was raspy from half strangled use all night. She was bruised and a little bloodied as well, but not nearly to the extent Daryl was. The lines across her shoulders and hips were merely red and were already fading into white, the sting barely noticeable. Daryl's back was actually dripping blood from the intensity of her frenzy.

He heard her words but at first they had no meaning. The only thing that made him move was the fact that his pride would not allow him to be caught like this by the rest of the group. He tried to move and found that he was quivering. He tried to remember the last time he'd been this tired and this overworked and he recalled a very cold evening being hounded by wolves in the Catskills as he struggled to come back form a fruitless hunt for a lost child. The jagged parallels between then and now were far too much for his punch drunk brain to deal with and so he kicked it back under his mental rug.

Fox was dressed by the time he managed to pick himself up off the floor. The only reason he moved at all was because he heard movement coming from downstairs and the sky outside was beginning to glow a softer blue rather than the inky coal darkness of the night. He staggered as he tried to stand up and Fox leaned down to catch him. She handed him his clothes and he shoved his legs back through his pants feeling like he was working through concrete.

"I can't do this again," he said softly, catching Fox's eye. "You need what you need but we have to be able to function. Fight. I can't even drive like this."

She nodded and approached him and curled one hand around the nape of his neck and kissed him deeply, her mouth soft and caressing now. He could only accept, he could not respond, he didn't have the strength.

"Thank you," she breathed against him. In those two words was all the assurance he needed. She sounded more like herself now than she had since before Luna had been taken. He'd held her together, he'd fended off the demons trying to break her, and now he could rest assured that she'd be ok. He shrugged back into his shirt and winced at the feeling of his skin tearing and bleeding as he did so. He went downstairs with her and found the rest of the group packing up.

"Carl, help me get the bike in the tail-bed of the truck. It'll help save gas. Fox and I will ride with Maggie and Glenn."

The young man nodded and Daryl struggled to mask the pain as he and Carl worked painstakingly to lift the motorcycle into the bed of the truck. After they loaded her up and lashed her down securely he stepped back and swayed almost drunkenly.

"Hey, you ok?" Carl asked as Daryl tried to brace himself on the side of the truck.

"I'm fine, go help your dad," he waved him off but out of the corner of his eye he saw Benjamin coming towards him.

"There's blood on your shirt that wasn't there yesterday," the medic noted. He had his bag of tricks with him and Daryl tried to suppress a desire to brush him off too. He glanced at Fox who was helping Maggie and Glenn load up their car and then back to the medic. His brain felt thick and hazy, like he had a bad fever in the middle of a Georgia summer, so much so that when Benjamin motioned for him to follow he blindly stumbled along after him without fuss. He didn't know if even a Walker attack would have been enough to get him into second gear right at this second. He followed Benjy to the back corner of the garage and sat down on the steps, his torso bowing forward between his arms as he struggled to stop the wobbly in his limbs.

"Jesus Christ she tore you to pieces," Benjamin muttered as he lifted up Daryl's shirt and saw the scratches. "The hell were you guys doing last night, trying to kill each other?"

"It's nothing alright," Daryl grumbled angrily, flinching away when Benjamin inspected the scratches.

"It's not nothing. Don't let her do this again. You could get infected from this," Benjamin chastised him.

"Yes mother," Daryl drawled even as he hissed at the sting when Benjamin dabbed in antibacterial cream and bandaged the deepest of the cuts.

"I'm serious," Benjamin muttered with a look into the redneck's eyes. "We don't have as many antibiotics as we used to. So just be careful alright?" As he continued to meet with Daryl's stare, and noting the exhausted look and deciding he might as well take his chances, he added "Is she always this rough with you?" His fingertips skimmed over knots of very old scar tissue and then pulled back swiftly.

If he had been anything less than completely worn down he would have simply ignored the remark but with all of his defenses lowered he didn't have it in him to let that go.

"Those old ones aren't from her. And she didn't hurt me. Not really." He shrugged back into his shirt and got up off the steps he'd been sitting on. He swayed a little and Benjamin reached over to steady him. "Quit worryin', Yankee. I can take care of myself."

Benjamin rolled his eyes and tucked his supplies back into his bag as Daryl took a few shaky steps back towards the others. "Yeah, I can see that," he muttered as Daryl continued to walk away.

"And get some sleep before you have a psychotic break would you? That's the last thing we need is you going to pieces too." Benjamin scrubbed at his eyes and sighed before following the hunter back towards the main body of the group.

They loaded up and for once Daryl was happy to be in the back seat of a car. He didn't bother strapping in, he just curled up against the door and the back seat and closed his eyes. Even with Glenn's less than textbook driving ability guiding the car he was still unconscious before they'd even made it a mile from the fire station and Fox was right behind him, her face relaxed for the first time since they'd left home.


	10. Chapter 10

_**Hello my beloved readers and reviewers! My deepest apologies for being egregiously late with this update. My schedule's been super busy and chaotic at work and at home so I've not had much time to write, but I promise I'm still working on this and I have not, nor will not, give up. Thanks for hanging there with me, you guys are amazing! **_

**Brittney**: _Great chapter! Benji has guts, going as bait was very brave for him. I love that you had Fox, Daryl and Carl come and get him but he was getting through to those guys to so I was a bit iffy about that, he could've probably talked them out of it. I still love your writing though! My mind just ran through a different possibility of what could've happened...Can't wait for the next chapter :)_

Aye Benji, does have a spine after all =) He probably could have talked his way out of it, but Fox wasn't willing to sit on the sidelines and since Daryl will follow her no matter where she goes, and Carl wasn't going to sit back and let anything happen to them on his watch, they all went in after him. It's just an illustration of the bond between all of them.

**Emberka-2012**: _Benji made a bold move. He is not the strongest fighter, but he's part of the family. Fox and Daryl have to be more careful. They can not allow themselves to be in bad condition._

He's definitely not the best fighter in the group, and he might not have been with them in the very beginning of things, but he is still a member of the family, and he'd die for them if he had to. As for Fox and Daryl, Daryl held her together while Fox worked through the anger and the pain and the helplessness at losing Luna, at least enough so she can think clearly and get some rest. They both know that they have to keep it together or risk losing everything else too.

**FanFicGirl10**: _I'm not very happy with Fox right now, i get that she's hurting but that does NOT condone or make it right that she would do that to Daryl even if he's allowed it to happen. Fox needs to understand she's not the only one who hurting, Daryl is in just as much pain as she is, she better apologize and make it up to him. Update Soon!_

Daryl's not particularly thrilled with her either…but he understands. This is just who Fox is. Sometimes she needs that violence and bloodlust to calm her and so he offers himself up. Because in the end, if she needed to, Fox would give everything for her family as well. Daryl made it clear that this was a one-time thing not to be repeated and she understands. She worked through enough of her hurt to function and now she can focus on the real task at hand. And Daryl is in just as much pain, but he is probably more practical than Fox in that he can manage to get a hold of himself to do what need be done and only after break down. Fox won't apologize for what she's done, but Daryl doesn't hold it against her.

**lunasky99**: _Wow good job Benjy!. He's never been that brave but he's trying xD. Why in the holly hell did they give them half of almost everything!?. Yikes that has to hurt. Damn Dahlia why you got to be so ruff?. I almost feel bad for Daryl but I don't because I know he likes it while it's happening. I loved your story Wildflower it was amazing, almost like I'm there with them but of course I'm not. I love books and really like the way you put so much thought into how you think the characters act and how they feel. Wildflower was very addicting and exciting to read, and now you have me addicted to it's sequel!. It's a really great story so far and I can't wait to read the next chapter!. Now this is probably just me and my crazy mind but could there maybe be some Benjy/Michonne bonding time in the future?. I hope Luna and Judith are okay!. So... Luna and Mal?. I can definitely see how that could happen. It's just like Luna's parents. There are so many similarity's but at the same time differences. Both of them are confident in themselves 'for a good reason', both can be very dangerous, the differences are that he is calm and usually thinks before he attacks unlike her where she attacks first thinks later, 'from what I can tell anyways'. I just hope he listens to that little warning that's going off in his head that points right at Luna screaming 'do NOT underestimate do NOT underestimate!' Haha!._

I knew for sure I wanted Benjy to have a chance to show some spine in Wolfsong and so I'm glad people are responding well to it =) Why half? They had to make the trade off worth it, or else they were probably risking a whole lot more, not that this wasn't a blow already. Heh, Daryl does like it while it's happening, to a certain extent, this is the hardest and roughest Fox has ever been with him, and it's not really an experience he wants to repeat, he's got enough scars as it is, but he'll handle it. I really try to make the world I create as detailed as possible, particularly with the characters and their feelings, because in the end those are their motivations for all that they do, and I think if people understand how they're feeling, it gives them something to relate to, which just makes the world seem that much more real. Hmm, Benjy/Michonne bonding…. possibly…I could see her teasing him a little because he's so skittish, but for the moment Michonne is still very wary of them all, as well she should be, she doesn't really know them or trust them yet. Luna and Mal….their's is a very interesting dynamic. Mal has her number, so he thinks, and he's not afraid to stand up to her and call her on her shit so to speak, which both aggravates and intrigues Luna. Mal's got good reasons to be confident in himself, as I shall reveal later on in the story, and for certain Mal definitely looks before he leaps, unlike Luna. But Mal is not without his weaknesses. He's not as careful with his assumptions as he ought to be, and Luna will know to take advantage of that when the time comes. For the moment they are enemies, but there is a lot of similarity to them that will prove to give an interest conflict to their dynamic as the story goes on…

**rosemarycr**:_ I just love Benjamin so much! Great chapter, made me quite curious about Michonne's role in the story, but I hope she's here for good_

I love Benjy too, in some ways he reminds me of Glenn from Season 1, skittish and unsure of himself and desperate to be useful even in the face of very dangerous situations, the difference being Glenn grew up so to speak and lost most of his skittishness but Benjy never did, although he's doing his best to be useful to the group. As for Michonne, she's gonna be around for a while, but this is the Walking Dead after all…nobody's safe ;)

**RedneckBunny**: _THAT WAS AWESOME!_

Yay! I'm glad you think so! I was trying to throw some action in there, so I'm glad it looks like it paid off =D

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Luna woke in her cell feeling like she'd been run over by a speeding truck. Her body ached and her head felt like it had been stuffed with wool. She blinked slowly and immediately regretted it when a wave of nausea rolled through her. There was a bright light somewhere ahead of her that was making her feel sick, as well as block her vision. She shut her eyes and tried to curl back in on herself but every twitch made her feel sicker. She inhaled and tried to calm the queasiness but that was when she noticed there was another smell in the room. It was faint, but it was the smell of soap, well scrubbed skin, leather, tobacco, and something else. Something that reminded her of juniper or crushed pine needles. It was almost like home, but a cold trickle of dread worked its way down the nape of her neck. It meant she wasn't alone in here.

Slowly, ever so slowly, she managed to get her eyes back open but because of the light she still couldn't see anything. It hurt but she shifted her gaze down and the stinging pressure of the light eased and now she could see someone sitting in the corner of her cell. Through the thick hazy fuzz clogging her brain she remembered him. Mal. The man who had led her and Judith down here.

She saw his lips move but she couldn't hear him, nor did she have enough focus to comprehend what he said. She blinked again and tried to sit up but it made her head swim something awful. Feeling shaky and weak like she had a fever she stilled. Mal said something else but again she wasn't fast enough on the uptake to understand. She tried to sign this to him but he didn't understand. She bared her teeth at him and closed her eyes again and this time forced herself to roll over so she didn't have to face him. She laid as still as possible, allowing the nausea and shakiness to pass and tumbled back down into unconsciousness again.

When she woke again she didn't feel quite as ill and definitely hungry which was a good sign. When she blinked her eyes open the light was dimmed and Mal was still sitting in the corner by the door holding a book in his hands. The minute she twitched on the bed he looked up from the book and met her eyes.

"Welcome back to the land of the living." This time as he spoke she understood although it took her a minute to process the movements.

"How long have I been asleep?" She signed the first half of it before she remembered he wouldn't understand and dropped her hands as she forced the words out from her throat. She had to repeat herself twice before he understood.

"Twelve hours," he answered. He set the book aside on the floor next to his foot and leaned forward so his forearms were on his knees. "I'll bet that's the first real sleep you've had since this all started."

"You're not wrong," she growled. She forced herself into a sitting position. She was sore from having been still for so long but it was nothing that wouldn't sort itself out. "Judith? Where is she?" she asked as she rolled her shoulders.

"Next door." His eyes never left hers as he spoke, although the planes of his face suggested he was relaxed. "She's ok. Slept for about ten hours, I had food brought to her and if you're up to it, I'll send some for you." When she didn't respond Mal's lips twitched into a thin smirk. "You're not going to get out of this by being a martyr. Just cooperate."

"Let me see her," Luna growled. She coughed and cleared her throat, still getting used to speech.

Mal shook his head. "Not yet. Not until the doctor's had a chance to look at you both. And apparently Martinez wants the two of you to remain separated. "

The name rang an unpleasant bell inside her skull. She remembered the man who had knocked her unconscious and peppered her with mace rubber bullets as they'd tried to flee the base in Colorado.

"Martinez can't handle two teenage girls put together?" She snickered with amusement and clicked her teeth.

"Martinez is a cautious soldier. If Milton had listened to him in the first place none of this would have happened and you two wouldn't have almost been eaten in the city." Mal tipped his head to the side. "And he's alright by the way. Leland. Although I gotta say, I think you scared every ounce of manhood out of him." He set his gaze on her with a new look, a questioning, prying look, like a bear determined to break into a fallen beehive for the honey inside. "Would you really have killed him?"

Luna bared her teeth. "Maybe," she growled. "I could kill you."

Mal snickered. "I doubt that, sweetheart."

Her skin burned and now she forced herself on her feet, clenching her fists near her hips. "Don't call me that," she warned.

He stood up and although he was a good four inches taller than her she didn't let that frighten her. Her tendons flexed beneath the skin of her clenched hands in contrast to Mal's looseness which just served to aggravate her all the more.

"Why not?" Mal asked casually. "You got a problem with pet names?"

She inhaled before she answered, forcing her throat to work. "I have a problem with people who try to dig under my skin because they think it's funny. You keep doing it and I'll make you regret it."

Mal snickered, his eyes flashing like molten steel. "Try it, _honey_."

She lunged at him and struck him right in the mouth with her fist. She was lining up for a gut shot as his head came back from the whip like snap of her blow but before she could deliver his wrist flicked and he grabbed a hold of hers and twisted her arm and shoved against her shoulder. She tumbled to her knees but reached behind her and fisted her hand into his thick hair and yanked hard. He grunted with the burning pain and she let go, but raked her fingernails down the side of his cheek. When she reached his mouth he tried to bite her but the ensuing struggle forced their close grip to come apart and she rolled away and got back up on her feet.

"Told you so," she spat. She sat back down on the bed and gripped the edges with both hands as he gingerly rubbed the side of his face that she had scratched.

He looked over at her and despite the red lines across his face he still smirked. "You can beat me up all day long Luna but it's not going to get you out of here. And it's not going to let you see Judith any faster." He got up from his chair and walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him. He stalked quickly down the narrow dark hall to three doors down before punching in the key code that would let him into Judith's cell. He found her on her bed staring up at the ceiling, one foot flat against the bed, the other dangling off the side.

"Did she blind you?" she asked casually, not bothering to grace Mal with eye contact.

"Not quite," he muttered, rubbing the side of his face. "But she's fast."

"Told you so." Judith's voice was sneered with contempt. "I told you not to aggravate her on purpose. She's not like most people, ok? She has no filter and almost no impulse control."  
"Yeah, I can see that." Mal flexed his jaw until it popped and although it did not quite dissipate the sting from Luna's nails he stopped fussing over it. "But her little stunt cost you another day of separation."

That made Judith sit up and look at him. His eyes were not entirely cold but they were stiff and unyielding. "Don't do that," she pleaded. "Please, she doesn't understand, ok?"

Mal shrugged. "She's going to have to learn she can't get her way by beating people up. We won't tolerate it here and until she cools her jets you two are going to stay put, and away from each other."

"Let me explain it to her," Judith begged. "Please. If you go in there and play God like that it'll only make it worse."

Mal shrugged. "I've had a lot worse, believe me." He left the cell and let Judith stew with fury and helplessness and aggravation. He felt bad about it in a small corner of his brain, but on the other hand, this situation with her and Luna wasn't about to change any time soon, and the only thing to be done was make it livable for everybody. Judith would bend without much fuss, he could already tell, but Luna was another story entirely.

He was coming up the stairs when he met Milton at the top. "How are they?" Milton asked, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose, still holding onto his little leather book.

Mal shrugged. "They're alright." Milton's eyes narrowed at him and Mal could see the wheels spinning and internally he tried to maintain a lid on his aggravation.

"Cut yourself shaving then?" he asked, nodding to a small drop of blood that had pooled at the edge of his jaw where Luna's nails had nicked in deep. He quickly dabbed it away and leaned up against the wall.

"I'm fine," he muttered. "When's Jenner coming down?"

"He's on his way, I'd like you to stay with him when he comes, alright?"

"Why, aren't you his bitch?" Mal asked with a snide tone.

"Show a little respect for the one who gave you the gun, Mal."

Mal stiffened when he heard Jenner's voice and saw the man appear over his shoulder from around the bend of the hallway. The doctor was in a perpetual state of sleep deprivation and the twitchy fuel of any kind of stimulant that he could get his hands on. Very few things ever made Mal nervous, but Jenner was one of them, mostly because of his unpredictability. Mal much preferred situations where he could see the progression to the outcome he suspected would occur. Jenner was like a twisted wrench thrown into a well-oiled machine. With him in the mix, any number of things could cause the engine to implode and go down in a plume of acrid smoke and scorching flames. He met the doctor's eyes briefly to show his acknowledgement and then diverted his attention, unwilling to maintain the connection long.

"Of course," Mal answered calmly. He could have said more but chose not to. It would have served no purpose except to dig himself deeper into a hole with spikes at the bottom.

"Milton, go check on test group A, I just altered one of the conditions of the experiment, document if there has been any change, and if so, what." Jenner's voice was clipped, biting off every syllable that wasn't entirely necessary.

Milton nodded once and skittered away like a cockroach exposed to light. Mal inwardly chuckled at his mental description but then Jenner's eyes narrowed in on him and a chill settled in his gut.

"How are our two newest subjects?" Jenner asked as they walked together down the hall towards Judith's cell.

"The eldest, Judith, is much like the others we have brought in. Reluctant, but I think she senses purpose in what we do and will not be overly difficult. The deaf one, Luna, is much different."

"In what way?" Jenner questioned as he flipped through the many sheets of paper on his notepad that he had in his hand. His lab coat was frayed at the cuffs of the sleeves and collar, stains and dirt streaking it, showing it certainly hadn't been washed in a long time. It was just another sign of his questionable mental state.

"I haven't decided if she's operating under the delusion that she can simply fight her way out of here by force or if she is being difficult to be spiteful. Either way…" he would have said more but the doctor cut him off.

"Either way she's rabid and must be treated as such. No matter. She will break. They all have before."

Mal remained silent. He had his own opinions on the matter, such that it might not be worth it to waste the necessary time and energy to break Luna, but he kept it to himself. The gun strapped to his thigh was a cold weight as he carefully followed the doctor, staying behind his shoulder as he punched the key code in and let himself into Judith's room. This time she did not lounge about, instead she quickly got up to her feet and stared at them hard, cold anger but also a calculated light in her eyes.

"Who are you?" she demanded.

"Edwin Jenner. Head of the medical department of what remains of the Center for Disease Control."

Judith's face hardened like water freezing on a tree branch but for the moment she remained silent and Mal had to wonder what was spinning in her mind. He remained where he was at the doctor's heels, not really feeling it necessary to get in the way at the moment.

"What is it you want with us?" she asked.

"Us?" Jenner quipped back. "I see only one of you."

"You know what I mean," Judith snapped, her words brittle. "Me and my sister."

Jenner shrugged absentmindedly. "You and your sister will serve as part of my experimental groups in order to continue working to find a cure for the plague."

Judith's teeth snapped like a metal trap closing over a rabbit's foot. "Have fun with that," she spat coldly.

The doctor's eyes narrowed. "Don't make this harder than it needs to be. It can be a very hard, painful process, and I don't wish it to be. It affects my research. I don't wish your time here to be uncomfortable or miserable. Just…" Mal could see the muscles in his face twitching as he began to unravel. He reached down to loosen the strap on his gun but then the doctor settled back into his skin. "Cooperate."

Judith sensed the instability and nervous energy in the room. She unclenched her fists and instead crossed her arms over her chest. "Does that mean once you're done with us you'll let us go?"

"When my research is done and a cure has been found, certainly," Jenner murmured although again he seemed lost in thought, drifting through some dark headspace only he was privy to.

"And how long have you been working on this?" Judith asked, easing the brittle temper in her tone, something for which Mal was grateful.

Jenner sighed and let his head fall so it hung low on his neck between his shoulders. He ground his palms into his eye sockets as his shoulders began to tremble. Mal reached down and thumbed the clasp on the holster of his gun, adrenaline beginning to circulate in his veins.

"Longer than you have been alive," Jenner growled, looking up and staring at Judith coldly, almost as if she were a Walker he was about to kill. "Do not question me. Ever." Every syllable was shredded between his teeth.

Judith seemed to understand his warning without benefit of Mal's halfway pleading look for cooperation. He did not, under any circumstances, want to draw on Jenner. The ramifications and consequences to such an action were such that it was one of those things that he would only consider in a very do or die moment. Which, with Jenner's instability, could be any damn second if he was pushed just the right way.

"What do you want with me right now?" Judith asked as Jenner set his notepad aside and began to lay out various medical tools on the little counter attached to the wall.

"Just a regular physical exam. I like to have some knowledge of where my test subjects are before I sort them into groups, and since you did not allow Milton do to this for me, I've been made to do it myself." Another threat burned through the words and Judith struggled to push her fear away. She didn't want this deranged man getting anywhere near her. She had of course heard the late night stories when Daryl would stay late at her father's house, trading sips of whiskey after a long, fruitless hunt. As a child she would sometimes creep to the very edge of her room and crack the door open and listen, and she had heard the story from almost twenty years ago, when several members of their group had been killed and Fox taken prisoner and it was all the master minded scheme of a deranged doctor named Edwin Jenner, put into action by his ruthless henchman, Philip. She only knew bits and pieces of the story, and the most frustrating thing was that she felt like she was missing the beginning, the spark, the catalyst that had caused Jenner to hunt them down in the first place. As a child she had not thought to ask, and when she was older she had tried but her father had turned her away, as had Carl. No one it seemed wanted to talk about what had happened. She had even tried to coax Luna into asking her parents but Luna had been met with failure as well.

"Just grin and bear it," Mal added quietly as Judith stared at the two of them coldly.

"Next time I hope one of us blinds you," Judith growled. But she did as he advised and let the doctor examine her. He was professional (she had something to compare to; Benjamin would also occasionally give everyone in camp a work over) but that didn't mean she felt any less violated. When he let her pull her clothes back on and he was looking down at his notepad, scrawling something on the paper, she was resisting the very strong urge to twist his head around until his neck broke. Her palms began to itch furiously…maybe she should…but no, Mal had the gun, and she had no way of knowing whether he would use it on her. If Luna were here to back her she might be more tempted but as it stood she settled for shooting both of them death rays out of her eyes.

"Certainly one of the healthiest of the test subjects we've ever had, at least from what I can tell on the surface. I'll have to run labs on the both of them to know more." He uncapped a needle and began to situate lengths of plastic tubing and vials for her blood. She looked away as he pricked her arm with the needle, searching for a vein. It was not that blood made her nauseas, it was simply she didn't want to look at him any more closely than was necessary.

"My family takes care of us," she growled as Jenner filled vial after vial with her blood.

The doctor's shoulders twitched substantially even as he released the flow of blood and removed the needle from her arm. She clapped a bandage on it herself which she took from the counter but the doctor seemed to stiffen marginally.

"How many in your family?" he asked softly.

"Including me? Eight. There were more. But you had them killed." Her voice was soft but laced with poison and hatred as she stared at the man. He looked right back at her and what unnerved her was the emptiness in his eyes. It was like a blank slate, like she hadn't even said a word. And when he answered his words were heavy, but not from remorse.

"War is war. People on all sides die. I was not without my losses. You cost me my best man and his lieutenant. Do not play a game of who hurts worse, it is pointless."

Judith chose not to respond. There were so many things that she was dying to scream at the top of her lungs but seeking a confrontation now did not seem wise. Not when she was outmatched by the two men who both had height and weight advantages, not to mention Mal's gun. She was not possessed of the same brawny strength that Luna was; the differences in their fighting style had been obvious as they were growing up, and in teaching both girls how to handle themselves with various weapons, they had tailored Judith's coaching to fit her needs. She was an ambush predator; she would have to wait for the right moment to strike if she was going to have any chance of winning a fight with the likes of the two men before her.

They retreated out of the room and Mal wished for a moment to breathe before having to go back in and deal with Luna and he carefully touched Jenner on the shoulder. "Sir, let me go in first," he advised quietly.

Jenner tilted his head. "Why? I am quite certain I could handle a half starved teenager."

Mal twitched his lips. He could have explained himself, but it only seemed fair for the doctor to get a taste of the medicine he had forced down all their throats. "As you wish," he said, tipping his head down. There was a perverse satisfaction that rolled through him after Jenner keyed in the code and the door to Luna's cell opened.

She was waiting for them, just as Mal expected she would be. She'd been crouched on the counter that was connected to the wall, just as it was in Judith's cell, and with the height advantage she hit Jenner square in the chest and knocked him back, having launched herself in a full on assault. She snarled and screeched like a banshee as she tackled Jenner and sent him reeling straight into the floor. She clawed at his face viciously while he writhed and kicked underneath her, trying to throw her off. He had not managed to do so when Luna was able to wrap her arms around his throat and head in a choke hold and her legs pinned down his shoulders. It must have taken all her strength to be able to hold him back, but she managed, even as he twitched and fought.

"Let us out of here!" she snarled.

"Mal! Get her off of me or you will take her place!" Jenner snarled, kicking and thrashing like a fish on a hook as he struggled to buck Luna off.

He withdrew his firearm, the gun sleek and black, the muzzle so dark that even the hallway lights did not reflect off the metal. He leveled it straight at Luna's head and curled his finger on the trigger.

"Let him go, Luna."

She stared at him with so much hate that it was hard to comprehend it. "What do I care if I kill him?" she growled coldly. "If he's dead, you have no reason to hold us hostage any longer."

"He's the only one with access codes to release the locks on the doors. You kill him and we'll starve to death inside here." Mal's voice was cool and calm, refusing to let her see that she had unnerved him.

She released her grip on the man and Jenner quickly skittered up to his feet, as did Luna. Before either of them were completely recovered Jenner twisted around and backhanded Luna so hard that she was flung back and blood began to trickle free of her lip. She whipped back around and tried to tackle him again but this time Mal slipped between them and kept the gun aimed carefully at Luna.

"Ah, now, don't do that," Mal warned. "You've made things so much worse than necessary. Be a good girl, please?"

"Fuck you!" she snarled, spittle flying from her lips. "I'm not a dog!"

Jenner flung his arm and hit her hard right in the back of the head, dropping her to the ground. Luna grunted with pain and tried to twist to get on her feet but Jenner drove his foot straight into her gut and sent her reeling into the side of the cabinets where she lay coughing and spitting blood from her mouth. He reached down and fisted his hand into her thick hair and hauled her up to her feet painfully, keeping her head and neck wrenched over to stop her from struggling.

"You are a dog, and like a dog, you are mine to do with what I will! So if I want to use you for target practice, I certainly will! You are not the master here, I am!"

Luna howled miserably from the pain in her head as she reached to try and claw Jenner's hand. Her words became unintelligible as Jenner wrangled her around the room, eventually pinning her down onto the counter, the strength in his limbs far more than what Mal had expected him to have, although he was sweating and his chest was panting for breath by the time he had her subdued. She had managed to scratch his face and bruise one of his eyes by the time she was pinned.

"Mal. Fetch her sister," Jenner demanded. When Mal hesitated he twisted his insane expression and seared it into Mal's retinas. "Now!"

Mal retreated from the room and jogged down the hall and into Judith's cell. He did not say a word, he just grabbed Judith by the upper arm and dragged her with him.

"What the hell is going on now?" Judith demanded.

"You better hope you can talk some sense into your sister before she gets killed!" Mal spat. He returned to Luna's cell and tossed Judith inside and followed, shutting the door behind him.

"Mal, the gun," Jenner ordered, zeroing in on the weapon still in Mal's hand. When Mal hesitated again, Jenner lunged and snatched it from him. Mal let it go before they could potentially risk an accidental shot in the struggle and then did his best to duck out of the way. Jenner traced the barrel of the gun on Luna's temple and she zeroed in on the doctor.

"Stop. Put a stop to all of this struggle, right now." Jenner's voice was soft but Luna could read his lips easily with their intimate proximity.

"Go on, blow my brains out, it's better than what I'm sure you have in store!" It was a bluff in some sense; Luna could see something wrong with the doctor- a twitch in him that was decidedly unstable. She thought better of her retort but it had left her mouth already and she could not take it back. All she could do now was save face, and so she bared her teeth at Jenner and refused to look afraid.

"Luna! Stop!" Judith's voice was pitched and almost frail. "Don't do this!" She signed rapidly knowing Luna could see out of the corner of her eye.

"Comply. Cease struggling. Or it will not be you who suffers." Jenner's voice had dropped to a desperate, yet removed tone of shaken fragility. He swiveled the gun and trained it straight on Judith. "Do we understand each other?"

Luna froze. Her mind reeled as she struggled to take in exactly how the world was crumbling around her. Everything in her wanted to rebel, everything was kicking itself to bits but cutting through the anger and humiliation was the mental picture of her father staring back at her, his eyes firm and uncompromising.

_Do what's right. You can't let Judith suffer. _

She stilled underneath Jenner. She refused to dignify her surrender with words. Jenner released her and she stood up on her own two feet and pulled her clothes back into place from where they'd been wrangled in her tussle with Jenner. Judith tried to go to her but Jenner nodded to Mal and he took her by the arm and pulled her away. Luna watched her go without a word or sign and very quickly she stood alone in the cell with a madman holding a gun.

"You put up quite a fight. Just like your mother."

Luna's eyes snapped forward. "So you do know who I am," she growled.

"Not until Milton so kindly informed me of what your sister told him." He tilted his head and lowered the gun but did not let go of it. "I was the first person who knew you existed, did you know that? I was the one who told your mother."

Luna shrugged. "Your words mean nothing to me." She forced the sounds through her teeth and glared at him but did not struggle to attack anymore.

He put her through the same routine he had Judith, although hers was modified and far more extensive when it came to her hearing and vision tests. He had her tested with exactly what she could and couldn't hear and found that she was not entirely deaf as Milton had presumed, although certainly enough that any semblance of hearing she did have was of little use to her. He made his notes on his clipboard, keeping a steady watch over her, eventually having her moved into his lab so he had better equipment to work with. After hours of being poked and prodded at he finally gave her a rest and took her back down to her cell.

"See was that so horrible?" Jenner asked as he nudged her back into her cage and she turned to face him in the doorway.

"The only reason you are patronizing me is because you've got a gun," Luna spat. "And you're too chicken shit to fight hand to hand, so you threaten my sister. Take a long look in the mirror, Jenner. Even if you save our species from extinction, no one will hail you as a hero."

"For someone who's never heard words you talk an awful lot," Jenner growled angrily.

Luna smirked. "Like I told Milton. I can see through your bullshit because my brain's not clouded by pretty words." She reached forward and slammed the door to her cell shut, disgusted with the man and unwilling to stare him in the face anymore.

Jenner turned from the door and began to wander up the hall. On his way back to his lab he encountered Milton and Mal, both of whom were heading back the way he had come towards the cells.

"Are you alright? I heard Luna gave you trouble," Milton said as he came within earshot of the doctor, although the slightly vacant look in his eye made him wary.

"Well enough, I have what I want from the two of them for the time being. Keep them away from the other test subjects, the last thing we need is for them to start a riot." Jenner could still feel the sting from a cut near his hairline where Luna had managed to get her nails in.

Milton nodded and then darted his eyes down the hall and Mal continued down the steps towards the cells. Milton turned to Jenner and walked with him towards his lab.

"Did you find anything of note in your initial inspection?" he asked.

"Not in the eldest one. But in Luna; her visual acuity is like nothing I've ever seen before. Both under normal conditions and in dim light."

"Judith said she has been deaf from a young age, we have long since known that the human brain is very plastic when it is young and is capable of compensating for such shortcomings." Milton could tell that the doctor was not entirely listening, or at least he wouldn't give him eye contact. He couldn't decide whether this was a good or bad thing.

"I wonder if a younger brain's plastic qualities would have any baring on the parasite which causes the plague," Jenner mused to himself.

"It is doubtful," Milton murmured. "The parasite destroys the entire brain, if we have found anything out conclusively, its that."

"Have we though?" Jenner asked, rounding on his assistant which caused Milton to freeze in his tracks. "We must not close ourselves off to any possibilities. Limiting ourselves is exactly how we keep spinning our wheels and getting nowhere."

Milton exhaled a slightly shaky breath, trying to get a grip on himself. He nodded, unable to find words he felt safe enough to say and Jenner fixed him with a look. The doctor clapped a weathered hand on Milton's shoulder and squeezed, his eyes sparking with excited madness.

"I have a feeling she will prove most useful in finding answers. After all, this all started with her," he whispered excitedly.

Milton tilted his head. "Sir?" he asked with confusion.

Jenner's eyes became unholy and bright. "The very first breakthrough I had was in discovering that because her mother was pregnant, the levels of her infection were lower. I'm on my way to the lab to confirm it, but I am certain Luna's level of infection will be lower still."

"But not low enough to prevent reanimation," Milton added lowly.

Jenner shook his head. "Not in generation zero. But I will be most curious to see if in generation one there is any change."

Jenner wandered away down the hall and Milton broke into a cold sweat. He had known the doctor was mad but he had never suspected that he would intentionally kill any of his test subjects in his quest for a cure. Perhaps that is not what he really meant…but the cold oil slick feeling crawling down his spine said otherwise.

In her cell Luna paced restlessly. Her body was sore and her limbs were shaking but far worse was the sense of isolation. Her inability to hear and not having Judith with her to warn her if something was coming made her feel terribly vulnerable. However that was not the most pressing problem. The most pressing problem was the fact that she had surrendered to Jenner. With one little threat he'd broken her resistance against him and that made her skin crawl in sickening ways.

_But it was J's life _she thought to herself. _No fruitless escape attempt is worth that. _

_But is it fruitless? Did you even think to consider Mal was lying when he said Jenner's the only one with the codes? _

Mal hadn't seemed like he was lying though. He had seemed truthful, and concerned, when he had dragged Judith inside. She had watched him out of the corner of her eye the entire exchange, and it had stood out to her that until Jenner had given the order, he had not tried to stop her from hurting him. That particular fact was a glaring flare inside her mind and she twisted and chewed over it relentlessly.

_He might just be a coward who didn't want to get involved. He certainly doesn't seem to mind taking orders like a little bitch. _

Her disdain for Mal only grew with passing minutes, but the real quandary was her situation with Jenner. She had said she wouldn't fight anymore…and she would have to hold true to her word, if only to protect Judith. The odds of any sort of escape out of this place were growing smaller by the second and it only made her fraught with anger and restlessness.

At some point later Leland brought her food although he didn't stay long. He left the tray on the counter and at first she ignored it but the smell began to make her mouth water and her stomach ache painfully. Still she ignored it but as the minutes wore on and she closed her eyes, trying not to give in, she saw her father's stern expression inside her mind's eye.

_Don't turn your nose up at food. You never really know where the next meal is going to come from. _It was something he had said to her when he'd taken her on winter hunts for weeks at a time and sometimes the only thing they found to eat between snares were the aging carcasses of other animals that had succumbed to the cold. It had been a lesson in survival. She gritted her teeth and got up from her cot. This was no different. She wolfed down the food, glad to have something to satisfy the gnawing pain of her hunger but angered that she'd been reduced to taking food from the hands of others.

_I swear, I'm getting out of this place. Me and Judith both. One way or another. _


	11. Chapter 11

_**Hello again my beloved readers and reviewers. Bit of a longer update for you, I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it. I shall be very curious to see what you have to say at the end. Also, a little bit of a change of pace, I'll be posting the review replies at the end of the chapter, rather than before. I think it might help it flow better. Also, I'm almost done with classes for the summer, which will mean faster updates, yay! Enjoy my friends!**_

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They were on the outskirts of Topeka when they ran low on gasoline again. It had been two days, the going made incredibly slow thanks to debris on the roads, which in addition to slowing them down and making them waste gasoline caused two flat tires. Finding replacement parts and tools to deal with such difficulties had made tempers short but they were doing their best to muzzle their remarks. The last thing they needed was to fall apart now.

Michonne had proved apt in keeping a watch for Walkers, as well as dispatching them handedly with her sword. As they'd approached the city and picked through the small towns that were scattered along the roads towards it, she almost always took point or worked as security to provide the others protection while they looked for gasoline or food. It was both a blessing and a curse that it was summertime. It made roughing it easier when they couldn't find decent shelter on the road, but it also posed a risk of dehydrating and making the need to find fresh water something ever present on their minds. Occasionally they came across creek beds and streams, ancient irrigation channels, but thanks to the heat of the sun and the lack of rainfall, they were always barren. They raided any stores or homes they could find, but always their search turned up nothing.

On the third day without water Rick beckoned Daryl over towards the front of the truck where they had stopped for the evening right on the outskirts of Topeka, maybe an hour's trip by car away. Daryl approached, leaving Fox to sit with the other members of the group. They hadn't bothered to build a fire tonight. The air was so hot even late into the night it wasn't necessary, plus there was no food to cook or water to boil. All their stomachs were clawed with hunger and tempers were short.

"We can't do this much longer," Rick said quietly, his boots scraping the asphalt. "Benjy told me that we can't travel in this heat any longer without water or we're risking heat strokes."

Daryl throat burned as he spoke. "We only got one choice," he growled softly. He nodded his head towards the city that they could see in the hazy twilight. Rick grimaced, his fingers tightening on his belt, his unshaved jaws tightening with stress.

"That place will be crawling with Walkers and God knows what else. There is no water anywhere in this whole state, except for the river that borders the edge of Kansas. If there's anything alive it'll be there." Rick's voice was a shallow rasp. He looked into Daryl's eyes and Daryl knew that despite his misgivings he had to be strong in this. They both knew the inevitability of the situation, but this was the time Daryl had to step up and let Rick know he had his back. It was never easy knowing that they were going to be putting themselves and the people they loved in danger, but if they didn't, they'd die out here. Maybe it was the exhaustion or the lack of water that had worn him down, but Daryl all of a sudden thought back to sweltering hot summer days in Georgia where something cool to slake his thirst had only been a few steps away and how ungrateful he had been for it. He thought he'd had it hard then? He tasted the bitter irony as a layer of dust over his tongue.

"We don't have the gasoline to try and go around to reach the river. And to be honest, I don't think we have the strength to spare either." The words were raw against his dry, chapped throat. Daryl stole a glance over his shoulder and looked at the group. They were all huddled in close, barely moving, sick with exhaustion, hunger, and thirst. They looked as sorry as they ever had, including shivering in their first snowy winter in the mountains and that was saying something. "We'll do what we have to do. We always have before."

Rick put a hand up to his head and squeezed his temples with stress. "I don't know if they can even make it through the night and into the morning. Not without something to keep them going."

Daryl nodded. "I had an idea about that. Nobody's gonna like it, but I don't think we have much choice."

Rick followed him back to the group and Daryl crouched down where Benjamin was huddled against the truck's tires, his hair hanging limply in his face.

"Benjamin, how much of the bagged blood we got left?"

It took a minute for the medic to even register what he'd said. His eyes seemed dazed and confused and for a moment he blinked at him blankly before he comprehended what Daryl had asked.

"Five bags. Not much," he said heavily. "Why?" He ran his fingers through his hair to push it out of his face and Daryl could see they were shaking.

"How much is in each one?"

"About fifteen ounces." Benjamin normally would have been more curious as to why Daryl of all people wanted to know about his medical supplies but he was too tired to really care.

"Half a bag per person," Daryl murmured quietly. "Assuming it doesn't go to waste."

"I have got to sleep sometime!" Benjamin snapped angrily. "I don't have time to transfuse everybody one by one!"

"Pipe down Blondie, that's not what I had in mind," Daryl growled.

Maggie shifted and caught Daryl's eye and she seemed to understand. They had both been raised on the land, they both knew certain unconventional methods for stretching what you had to get by. "Oh God…" she moaned and buried her face into her knees.

"What, what is it now?" Glenn demanded, putting his hand on Maggie's back gently before looking up at Daryl and Rick.

Daryl didn't answer at first and turned back to Rick. "We might have a better chance if we go now. It's only eight ounces of fuel per person, it might not be enough to get them going again tomorrow."

Rick bit his lip hard. "Its harder to see at night, we don't know the layout of the city, or if there are any hostiles inside, or a dozen other things that we would have a better chance at handling in the daylight."

"If we wait until daylight it'll be too late, Rick." Daryl's voice was grave. "They're on their last legs."

"Speak for yourself," Michonne piped up. "I'm used to this, I could go another day or two at least before I'm as rough as you."

"Lucky you, Amazon," Daryl muttered before turning back to Rick. "With Samurai over there being the exception we can't afford to wait. They can barely get up as it is. By tomorrow…they might not be able to get up."

Rick's shoulders buckled and he finally nodded in agreement. There was an enormous amount of anger and pain in his eyes and Daryl could understand. Even after all this time, having done so many things that in the Before they had never even dreamed of doing…and this was just one more step down that ladder, and it sickened the man. Daryl was used to it. He had always had to make do with anything he had on hand, he'd fended for himself for so long even in the Before that this desperation was not new to him. But being driven to this level, he understood Rick's feelings.

He dragged Benjamin's bag out of the car and rifled through it and pulled out all but one of the O-neg blood bags. He'd of suggested a fire to help warm them through but there was no wood to burn. He tossed one to Fox, one to Glenn and Maggie, one to Rick and Carl, and one to Benjamin and Michonne. Fox's eyes followed him carefully, as did the rest of the group's.

"Hold them under your clothes, warm blood goes down easier," Daryl said as he tucked the bag he had given to Fox underneath his shirt against his skin. It was cool to the touch at the moment but he knew soon enough it would be lukewarm and that was the best it was going to get.

"Wait, you're not serious, we're not drinking blood!" Glenn snapped, angrily glaring at Daryl and then Rick. When Rick didn't protest, Glenn's face hardened. "Are you out of your mind?"

Daryl rolled his eyes. "There's been no food and no water for days! What do you expect, Glenn? The only place we're going to find water is the river at the edge of Topeka, but we have to make it there first, which means fighting through a fucking city of Walkers! Blood's got a lot of protein and nutrients in it, it'll keep you on your feet long enough to make it to the river. There's a guarantee of water and probably food too. But if we can't make it there, then we're screwed."

"Daryl's right." Everyone was surprised that it was Michonne to speak up. "There's fish in the river and probably other animals that can be hunted. Once we're there we can resupply, but we have to be able to get to it."

Rick nodded. "It's a tough thing to swallow, literally. But we don't have a choice. We have to try and make it to the river tonight, or we might not make it at all."

Benjamin groaned but he nodded too. "He's right. They both are."

They sat in silence for about fifteen minutes while they all warmed through their pick me up as best they could, but Daryl knew they'd still need to play follow the leader- even Rick. Fox was watching him intently as well. She'd seen him eat raw squirrels and other small animals that he'd caught when they'd been hunting, but she had never done it herself, nor had she ever liked to watch him do so.

Daryl picked up his buck knife and made sure the blade was clean before he cut a decent slit into the bag and let the blood drain into the metal cup he usually used for coffee or water. He poured the second half of the bag into Fox's cup and then set it aside.

"Cheers," he muttered sarcastically before tipping the cup to his lips.

It was definitely better when fresh from a carcass. The pungent flavor of metal and salt slicked his tongue, made thicker and slimy due to it being packaged and not from a vein. He did his best to try and ignore the fact that not only was this blood, but it was human blood at that, and forced himself to swallow. His gullet rebelled but as the blood settled down into the ravenous cavern of his stomach he settled back down.

"Not bad," he said sarcastically, flicking his tongue over his lips. He had about two or three more drinks left in his cup but now he eyed Rick expectantly.

Rick mimicked him and divided up his own bag between himself and Carl and without much hesitation he downed as much of it as he could in one go, his eyes squeezing shut as he did so. He scowled and almost choked but forced it down, visibly shuddering as he did so.

"Could be worse," Rick said with a grimace.

One by one they all followed suit. Fox took to it better than most, and none too surprisingly, Benjamin had the hardest time of it. Even in the hazy moonlight washing over them Daryl could see his skin turning green.

"Don't you dare puke, Blondie. You'll waste it," Daryl growled as he saw Benjamin fidgeting and beginning to squirm.

"I hate you," Benjamin said weakly, folding in on himself as he tried his best not to be sick.

"I think I hate you too," Glenn agreed as he looked up from where he had his head on his knees, his empty cup resting near his feet.

"Eighteen years later, you're still whining like city slickers," Daryl grated, but they could all hear the soothed edge of teasing in his voice. He picked up his cup and swiped his finger around inside to gather the traces of blood that had clung to its edge before licking his finger clean.

"That's it. You are officially not human. A vampire bit you somewhere between Wyoming and here," Maggie agreed as she watched him lick his cup clean.

"Is that where you're from?" Michonne asked quietly as she followed Daryl's example and extracted every last drop of blood from her cup as she could. She had not grimaced or flinched as she'd taken down the blood, and Daryl got the feeling she had maybe done worse while surviving out in the wilds on her own.

"We're from Georgia. Or at least most of us. But after the outbreak, we moved out West to get away from civilization," Carl explained. He had stomached the blood without much complaint, although his gut didn't exactly thank him for it.

"Me too," Michonne said softly. They all looked at her with surprise.

"Were you there during the outbreak?" Rick questioned.

She nodded. "Not in Atlanta though. I think that's where it all started. I was passing through a little boondocks town when everything went to shit."

"Where'd you get the sword?" Fox asked. She also mimicked Daryl and cleaned out her cup. Every taste went down easier than the previous one.

Michonne smirked a little. "Wouldn't you like to know," she teased lightly. "We'll have to trade notes." She nodded to Fox's kukri blades and the knife-thrower grinned right back.

"We might just get that chance very soon," Fox said darkly. Daryl was already on his feet, and he offered her his hand to help her up. She clasped it firmly and although she was still a little shaky when she stood, she could already feel the benefits of having something in her stomach. She knew it wouldn't last long and she was anxious to get underway before it wore off.

"I'll take the lead on the way into the city, Fox, you're with me and Carl in the truck to navigate, the rest follow in behind. With any luck we can get a straight shot through the city on the interstate which borders the river. If we have to bail, you know the drill, stay in formation, everyone stays together. Now let's go!" Rick barked orders, settling back down into his skin as a leader, and Daryl was grateful for it. Rick always functioned better if there was a plan. Daryl didn't like being separated from Fox but he knew it wouldn't be for long. Fox squeezed his hand tight and smiled up at him, her eyes sparking brighter than they had in days.

"Thank you," she murmured again. She did not kiss his lips but instead laced her arms around his neck and pulled him tight to her before pressing her cheek against his briefly.

"Be safe," he said as she pulled away. She withdrew one of her throwing daggers and twirled it in her fingers with a nod before climbing into Rick's truck in the front seat. She pulled the map out of the glove box and flipped it open and carefully pinpointed where they were as Rick fired up the engine and got them back onto the interstate after skirting piles of broken down cars. She gently traced the most likely route they'd take with the tip of her dagger and carefully watched the road.

"Fine time to miss Luna's night vision," Fox murmured as the darkness deepened even as the looming approach of the city grew closer and closer.

"We have to make due," Rick said with tension in his voice. Behind him in the backseat of the truck Carl was double-checking to make sure he had bullets in his gun. When he was satisfied the clip was full he slid it back in and made sure that there was a bullet in the chamber and clicked the safety off.

As Fox had anticipated, the freeway was completely jammed with stalled and wrecked cars. They were going to have to take side streets in order to get down to the river. They doubled back with some difficulty and pulled off the interstate and Fox began to navigate them through the streets of Topeka. Several times they cut across people's yards, ripping up overgrown weeds and grass and nicking curbs in order to avoid debris on the road.

"We're almost there," she whispered excitedly. "There should be a turn up here that will take us a straight shot to the river."

Rick shifted gears and gave the truck more gas, pulling away from Maggie's car just slightly in haste. They'd seen a few Walkers on their way in and even more as they'd ducked and swerved through the streets of the city. Nothing unmanageable but the sooner they could pull away from them, the better. They were almost out of gas, maybe just enough to make it back out of the city, and they desperately needed to resupply. He was so lost in his excitement and hurry to get the precious water they needed he was completely blindsided when another vehicle came whizzing out of nowhere across an intersection they had just been about to cross.

Rick swerved and hit the breaks, the tires screaming with the effort as he pulled up. Fox stabbed the dagger in her hand into the seat cushion of the truck to keep from impaling herself on the blade by accident as she was thrown against the dash, not having bothered with her seat belt, knocking her shoulder a good one against the dash as the truck pitched wildly, the brakes struggled to stop the forward momentum. Carl shoved the gun towards the floorboard of the truck until they shuddered to a stop. When they settled Fox jerked her head up and stared out the windshield and saw that the SUV that had cut them off had wheeled around in the intersection and was facing them, headlights glowing angrily.

"Get down!" Rick yelled.

They ducked as far down as they could just as they were peppered by gunfire. Glass shattered and rained down over their heads as the bullets blew clean through their windshield. Rick hollered with rage and as soon as the shots stopped he whipped his pistol forward and fired back, the python booming like thunder right in Fox's ear. She ducked down as Carl snaked his arm forward and squeezed the trigger on his pistol, firing off shots.

"Roll!" Rick ordered.

They flung the doors to the truck open and scrambled out and used the doors for cover as more gunfire hailed them. By now Maggie's car was also stopped and when the sound of bullets flying died Rick spun and saw with horror that just as their companions were getting out of their cars that another SUV was blocking them off behind their two car convoy.

"Daryl!" Rick shouted at the top of his lungs.

The redneck had just gotten out of the car and was hauling his pistol forward to help return fire when he spun and saw the second SUV behind them. He ducked immediately behind the door of Maggie's car as bullets went flying.

"We're trapped!" Maggie cried miserably. Glenn was right at her shoulder and was jamming shells into his shotgun as fast as his fingers could go.

"What do they want?" Benjamin squeaked as he struggled to get a bullet into the chamber of his gun.

"Who the fuck cares?" Glenn snarled. "We gotta get out of here or they'll hit one of us eventually."

"How do you suggest we do that?" Michonne panted. She gestured with her sword that she had unsheathed and from the other two ends of the intersection were Walkers, stumbling and staggering forward towards the sound of the gunfight.

"We have to get out of here, before we're totally boxed in," Daryl growled. He glanced at Glenn with a firm nod and then twisted with his back up against the door of the car as bullets pinged off the metal and looked for Fox. She hadn't bothered to take her pistol with her so she was huddled behind the door of the truck, her feet flinching every time a bullet struck the ground, but there was battle fury in her eyes mixed with severe frustration. She didn't dare risk trying to throw a knife from this distance, she'd be shot on sight if she came out from behind the door of the truck.

"Daryl! Daryl we gotta split them up!" Rick yowled over the din of the gunshots even as he extended his arm and fired from his python again. He was forced to duck back down when a shot shattered the window of the truck on his side and caused glass to shower everywhere.

"Glenn! Come with me, we're the fastest, we'll run interference and give them something to chase!" Fox yelled, searching out Glenn's gaze. He nodded fiercely and squeezed Maggie's hand once before Fox found Daryl's eyes. Emerald green met cobalt blue, both mirrored their battle ferocity, desire to protect their family, and pleas for the other to be careful. There didn't need to be words. One look said it all.

"Benjy, gimme your gun," Daryl demanded. The medic surrendered the weapon without hesitation and Daryl tossed it towards Fox who darted out and snatched it up. She rolled in the same motion, came up, and leveled the pistol with both hands and fired towards the door of the head on SUV. The bullet lanced through the glass and she thought she saw someone slump forward against the dash but she couldn't be sure. The gun was a foreign, heavy weight in her hands and even after all these years she shuddered with revulsion but pushed it away. Her family was in danger. These people were hers, and no one was going to take them from her while she had a weapon to fight back with. In her mind she howled with red hot rage that she had not been able to protect Luna as she now fought for her family and as her wheels spun, it gave her the strength she needed for her next move.

She scrambled fully to her feet and darted in between Rick's truck and the enemy SUV while Rick and Carl laid down cover fire. Her instinct was to shoot as well but she knew with running as she was she wouldn't be able to aim sufficiently and it was better not to waste the ammo. The Walkers were coming closer and now she tossed the gun to her left hand and grabbed her kukri knife in her right and slashed one of the monsters across the face, splitting the skull. It dropped and she quickly darted to the side to avoid another. More began to hem her in and right when she was about to either have to double back or reach for the gun Glenn came swerving towards her side and fired off several quick, clean shots, clearing her a path. At the same time there were bullets pinging around their heads, some of them striking Walkers in the legs or chests, slowing them down but not stopping them. Glenn risked a glance over his shoulder and saw that their plan had worked, three of the gunmen, all too far away to make out with any sense of detail, were giving chase, weapons raised.

"Ah shit!" Fox yelped when a shot came so close to hitting her that she felt the grazing breeze of the bullet. She hit the ground, tumbling on her shoulder from having tripped, and rolled end over end, crashing into a Walker on the dusty pavement. She screeched as the monster fell with her in a mess of rotted, clawing limbs. She flailed like mad, seizing the Walker by its disintegrating wrists and forcing the hands away, but its mouth lunged. The snapping teeth plunged for her chest.

She screamed wordlessly in panic, her entire life flashing before her eyes through a sheet of scarlet flame. Above her she saw more shuffling feet headed straight for her. Terror coursed through her veins like liquid fire, burning out all her sense. She knew what happened to someone who fell under the breadth of the mob. They never got up again. A wordless howl tore itself from her throat as she kicked out violently, her feet scraping at the creature's legs, taking off sheets of skin and rotted flesh with her boots. Grunts of effort and snarls of hatred laced fear worked through her teeth as she struggled with her assailant. She heard bullets flying all around her but had no idea if those shots were friendly or from their enemies. The Walker snapped and gnashed its jaws, the head bucking wildly as it tried to tear a piece of her flesh away. She dare not let go of its hands or it would claw her, and for a body rotted to almost the bare bones, it had an enormous amount of strength. It took all her effort to just hold it far enough so it couldn't get its teeth in her, but as it struggled frantically, she could feel the bones becoming crushed underneath her violent grip, and soon the hands would give away from the wrists. If that happened, they would become independent and would claw her. Even if she could get them off in time, there would be nothing to stop the mouth from hitting her chest and taking a chunk out of her. But she dare not loosen her grip on the arms. Above her the feet were still shuffling, getting ever closer.

Suddenly the pressure was gone. Black acrid blood spattered against her body and instantly she shut her mouth to keep it from flying in. The skull of the Walker on her had shattered, brain matter oozing from a hole placed neatly in the crown of its head. She didn't waste time thinking about it. She heaved the body aside, rolled, and snatched her pistol which had fallen just inches from her hand. Immediately she leveled the gun and shot, taking out seven Walkers that were crowding her. She lurched to her feet and searched for Glenn and saw him taking cover in the tail bed of a very rusted out truck that had been parked in someone's yard. She could see him peaking in and out, trying to pick off Walkers, as well as aiming at their followers. Once again she was caught in the crossfires, but she knew instinctively that it had not been his bullet that had saved her from the Walker. Immediately she tried to search for who it had been, but as she spun wildly, looking for both the savior and an exit, she found herself hemmed in further and further.

"Fox! This way!" Glenn howled, doing his best to take out Walkers from where he was ducked for cover.

She bolted, dodging waving arms and bloody jaws, and as she ran, she could feel her strength beginning to give out. Her brain felt hazy and the world seemed to spin, like she'd tossed down a shot of whiskey on an empty stomach. Colors swam and the scent of death clogged her mouth and nose. She knew that if she kept on like this she would die, torn apart in this street, only to rise later as one of the millions of walking dead. She refused to give up, to be beaten so easily, to allow the world and all of its fury to keep her from her duty, which was to protect her family. With a burst of adrenaline laced strength she shot across the overgrown lawn and dove into the tail bed of the truck where Glenn was crouched.

"You alright?" he panted, his face screwed up with concentration and battle stress.

"I'm fine, I'm alright!" she affirmed as she checked the clip on her gun.

"We have to get back to the others, there's too many of them!" Glenn's voice was tense, but unlike years past, not panicked, but angered. Fire blazed in his usually gentle eyes and once more Fox was reminded of how much he had changed. No longer was he the trembling kid that she had taken advantage of just days after meeting him. She knew he'd lay down his life for any of the group, but in the shadow of his gaze was the longing to know one in particular was safe. Fox knew from experience, there was nothing like the drive of a man protecting the woman he loved to motivate him.

Fox took a glance over the bed of the truck at the scene unfolding in front of them. Blocking their access to the group was about a hundred yards worth of distance, scattered throughout were dozens of Walkers, and she knew instinctively that the gunmen were still hiding in the area as well. She could hear the sounds of their shots every few seconds as they fired towards them, or at the group.

"And I thought Atlanta was bad," Fox panted as she loaded a bullet into the chamber of her gun.

"If we split and go around the houses we could make it," Glenn said, urgency biting through every syllable.

"That's a long way, and puts us really close to the people shooting at us," Fox hissed. But at that moment Walkers began to pound against the metal of the truck, grabby hands straining and reaching for them, ravenous mouths open and letting out their deep throated growls.

"If we don't go now they'll swarm us and we'll be trapped," Glenn panted. He loaded his spare clip into his gun and locked the bullet into the chamber. His eyes burned in the thin moonlight overhead and as they met each other's eyes, there was measure for measure. "Lead the way, Fox."

She nodded and launched herself from the lip of the tail bed, landing with a hard thud on the pavement but she didn't let it slow her down. She sank deep down into herself, down into that place where she was mindless, and the only thing that mattered was staying alive. She drove her feet hard against the cracked concrete and weed choked patches of dirt, one hand heavy with the weight of her gun, the other holding her kukri knife. Glenn stayed right on her as she swerved to the left, the path of least resistance, and kicked her legs into overdrive, running as fast as she physically could. Her chest burned and her muscles screamed from the effort and she knew that it was only going to be a matter of time before she could go no further. Walkers were closing in on them from both sides and she yowled with vicious hatred as she hacked them out of her way. Glenn stayed right on her heels, only shooting when her blind haste would have sent her tumbling straight into another Walker.

Bullets pinged around their feet and Fox gasped with fear and surprise, running through an open chain link gate into a backyard behind a rotted through house, going down in a heap of limbs and weeds that were four feet tall as she tripped over a nondescript piece of debris. She rolled and scrambled up to her knees, Glenn right behind her.

"Come on!" he urged. He helped her up and took the lead, running around the back of the house, leaping over the decaying remains of what had been someone's life; the weed strangled carcass of a garden, children's plastic toys and a bicycle that was so rusted that not a speck of metal could be seen on it. He kicked down the gate with more force than she realized he was capable of and they ran between the house and the neighbor's fence, heading for the front yard and then just two more houses away until they reached their family.

Glenn hesitated right at the edge of the gauntlet before darting into the street. Fox snaked around him and took the lead, deciding that they didn't have time to wait. She could see Walkers slowly beginning to block their path and they both were going to start running low on bullets very soon. She ran and Glenn followed, and as they did, gunfire cracked like thunder around them.

She felt the absence of Glenn's presence behind her. She spun on her heel, hacking a Walker in the face and kicking the body away as she did so, and turned to search for Glenn.

He had not left the edge of the gauntlet between the house and the yard's fence. Instead he was leaning against the fence, as if dazed and confused, his head hanging down between his shoulders. His fingers were squeezing the chain links of the fence with a white knuckle grip, slipping on the rusted metal. Fox stabbed another Walker and was about to shout for Glenn to hurry the hell up and come on when her heart dropped to the arches of her feet. Glenn picked his head up and stared at her, his eyes mixed with intense pain and fright, and as he did so, he revealed the blood gushing down his chest.

She was at his side before he hit the ground. He collapsed against her, the intensity of the pain he was in written all over his clenched features. Fox didn't wait or ask permission, she yanked the edge of his shirt up high enough to see the damage; despair mixed with grit washed over her as she saw it was not a bite, but a bullet wound, straight to the left side of his chest, the hole ragged and deep. As tenderly as she could she felt for an exit wound in his back but there was none.

"Maggie…" Glenn panted, blood leaking from the corner of his mouth. He coughed violently, shuddering against her as he tipped forward into her chest. She caught and steadied him before he could fall but he was still rambling his wife's name.

"We'll get you there, Glenn," Fox urged. "But you have to keep moving, alright? We gotta cross the intersection. You have to help me out, I can't carry you on my own."

His eyes swam and for a second seemed to clear. He couldn't speak, only nod, and Fox put her knife away and switched her gun to her right hand. She slung Glenn's arm over her shoulder and ignored his whimper of pain before forcing him as upright as he could go.

She darted back out into the open as quickly as she could, tugging Glenn with her, his feet stumbling and tripping as he struggled to keep up. She dodged the Walkers that she could but ended up shooting until her clip was empty, and even then they were only halfway. She took the risk and screamed the names of her family members at the top of her lungs to get their attention. They were never going to make it across without help.

Shots fired again, powerful booms like sledgehammers on iron bells hitting her skull. At first she thought it was Rick's python, no other gun she knew made sounds like that, but this was even more powerful. Six shots rang out like this, each one rattling Fox's brain and making Glenn flinch and stumble against her. But after those shots were released all the others stopped. Fox looked and saw there were bodies laid out behind trees and in the street, the fallen shadows of their enemies. Someone must have gotten some height advantage and had taken them out with a rifle. She was grateful for the reprieve but they weren't out of the water yet. Walkers were closing in on them and Fox felt a tightening in her guts. Unless someone came to help, they were dead in the water.

That someone appeared like a firebrand, the thin moonlight coming from overhead glinting off the edge of the sword that became splashed in crimson. Michonne darted through the horde, slashing and slicing heads left and right while Rick and Daryl launched themselves into the fray, firing off shots with deadly precision.

"What happened?" Rick yelled over the din of gunfire as Daryl continued picking off Walkers while Rick raced to Fox's side, immediately taking Glenn's other arm and throwing it over his shoulder, accepting most of his weight.

"Glenn was shot!" Fox panted as she struggled to straighten out her back. A Walker threatened to take a chunk out of Glenn's arm and she roughly shoved them both out of the way as she yanked her bowie knife free and stabbed the monstrosity in the head with so much force that she took the creature to the ground. It was as she was scrambling to her feet that Daryl appeared as well. He helped get Glenn on his feet as Rick loaded more bullets into his python. When Daryl tried to pull Glenn forward his knees buckled and Daryl snatched him up before he could hit the ground. He snagged him around the mid section and lifted him into his arms, slinging him over his shoulder. Fox didn't know where he found the strength for it, but he had that look on his face that said no matter how exhausted he was, no matter how little he had left in him, he'd find more, because it was the right thing to do. Rick, Fox, Carl, and Michonne guarded him as they made the treacherous journey back to the cars through the advancing mob of Walkers.

"Get him in the truck, we have to go, now! Benjy in the back with him!" Rick barked as he came running up first. Maggie followed and her face went from relief to terror as she saw Daryl carrying Glenn. She let out a pained cry of despair and ran forward.

"Is he dead, what happened, Glenn, talk to me!" Maggie cried, struggling to see if Glenn was conscious as Daryl and Fox worked to get Glenn into the tail bed of the truck. Benjamin vaulted in, his bag shaking in his hands.

"He's alive!" Daryl huffed, struggling to recover his breath. "Stay with him, we have to go, gimme your keys!"

Maggie's hands were shaking and her face was streaked with tears as she roughly pushed the keys into Daryl's palm. Daryl jumped down out of the bed and Michonne followed him closely. She sheathed her sword and climbed into Maggie's car, the blood spattered over her dark skin like streaks of war paint. Fox was about to follow Daryl into the car when he stopped her and put a hand on her chest.

"Go with Rick, help him navigate, find us a safe place," he urged.

"No! I'm going with you!" she insisted. After her multiple brushes with death she couldn't bare the thought of being any further away from him than she had to be. She needed him to hold her steady, to remind her that she was alive and so was he. It was her right.

He grabbed her by the shoulders with both hands and pulled her hard against him, squeezing her tight, for everything he was worth, so hard that her bones creaked and it was impossible to breathe. He had never held her like this before, and she realized in that second that he too had been terrified for her life, though he'd never say it in those words. He let go quickly and roughly kissed her for a split second. It took her back for a moment, because it was how _she_ would have reassured him in the heat of the moment.

"I will follow you." The words were rough, gravel rubbing steel, but as gentle as his throat would allow for. "Go."

It was more than just the words in context. It was an affirmation that regardless of where she went or what danger she put herself in she would not be alone. He would follow her through the gates of hell, no matter the reason.

She was still trembling but she let him go. He ran to Maggie's car and threw himself into the driver's seat while Fox hurried to the truck. She jumped into the front seat, Carl in the cab, Maggie, Glenn, and Benjamin in the bed, and Rick behind the wheel. The engine was already running and he punched the gas hard, the tires shrieking in protest before grabbing pavement, clipping Walkers and mailboxes, the metal of the vehicle scraping hard. Fox's hand lashed out and snagged Rick's wrist and steadied him.

"Drive carefully. Glenn is in the back," she reminded him.

He nodded curtly and she unfolded the map. "Where's a safe place, it's gotta be close, he can't travel far," he said urgently.

She scanned the wrinkled paper, running her fingers over the surface, using moonlight to read the fractured words and crinkled lines. The map was fairly detailed which was both a blessing and a curse.

"On the banks of the river is a warehouse that's separate from most of the others. Hopefully it's not crawling with Walkers. That looks like our best bet. Keep going, about five miles and then hang the next left."

She continued giving him directions until he could see the building for himself, a large rusted through metal warehouse with shattered glass windows built right on the banks of the river. As they pulled up on the outside it appeared to be abandoned and the smell of weeds and the slow steady flow of river water filled the air, a combination of moisture, earth and salt. They killed the engines and immediately piled out; Rick quickly ran to the tail-bed where Benjamin was waiting for him.

"How is he?" Rick demanded. He noticed that Benjamin's torso and arms were streaked with blood, as were Maggie's hands.

"Hard to say, I couldn't do much in the truck, we need to get him inside." Benjamin's voice was thick with his accent, something that didn't bode well.

"Stay with him. Maggie, come on, I need your help, we may need to clear this warehouse before we use it," Rick ordered. The little brunette loaded a bullet into the chamber of her gun and nodded, leaping out of the tail bed without a word. She looked as haggard and beat down as the rest, but there was hellfire in her eyes and Fox knew instinctively that Maggie was about to be brutally lethal on any enemy they found inside. Someone had hurt Glenn and now she was about to show the world why that was a huge mistake. Fox followed at her heels but as soon as Daryl was out of the car she was at his side. They didn't say a word, but it felt like heaven to be in step with him again. She'd never say it out loud, but she always fought better when he was at her side.

Daryl used Glenn's bolt cutters to snap the chain that was on the door of the warehouse. Once it was unlocked they flung the doors open as far as they could to let in as much moonlight as possible and waited with bated breath.

They heard nothing. No sounds of the undead, no indication of any kind of intruder, it appeared as though they were totally alone. To be safe, they grabbed their lanterns and did a sweep of the warehouse, fanning out and checking every corner and behind every stack of shipping crates and made of wood so rotted through it was falling apart. They found nothing but tiny rodent bones and a fat tomcat lounging on one of the crates near a shattered window that hissed in surprise at their intrusion and escaped out the window.

"Daryl, Carl, help me move Glenn, Fox, go get water from the river, Michonne, find anything dry that we can burn for a fire, Maggie help Benjamin with the supplies," Rick barked as they all came running back to the vehicles. They were on their last legs, everyone but Michonne physically shaking from exhaustion and stress, but they all forced themselves to keep moving. They split up to complete their different jobs and within half an hour they were all back inside. Michonne had managed to find some dry kindling and she proved to be just as useful with an ax as her sword and cut away a good portion of some of the nearby wooden crates to build a fire. Glenn was stretched out on his back away from the door of the warehouse near one of the walls, the rest of the group crowded around him. All of the water Fox brought back was quickly put through their distillation system to remove its impurities and for added sanitation a few drops of bleach were swirled in. It was a tedious process, but it was the best way to keep from getting ill. Nobody held it against anybody else that even though Benjamin was already trying to work on Glenn they were gulping down water to soothe the parched sting in their throats after setting aside what Benjy might need.

They cut the light from their lanterns in order to save their power, using only light from the fire while Benjamin worked. He'd managed to get Glenn out of his shirt who by this point was barely conscious. His skin was pallid and cold from loss of blood, his entire body limp and for the most part unresponsive to touch. As Benjamin tried to survey the damage he turned to Maggie as Glenn's eyes began to close.

"You have to keep him conscious," he urged her.

Maggie situated Glenn's head in her lap and stroked his cheeks and continuously ran her fingers through his hair, murmuring softly to him. His eyes would flutter every few words but Fox forced herself to watch as Benjamin peeled back a very hasty bandage over the wound in his chest.

The damage didn't look extensive from the outside, but as Fox watched Benjamin's expression go from concentrated to stressed her spirits plummeted. The medic didn't say a word, not even when Glenn began to cough and wheeze for breath. Blood leaked from the corner of his mouth as he carefully helped Maggie to roll him on his side to help him breathe easier. While they had him on his side Benjamin had his stethoscope in his ears, listening through the Asian's back. His expression went from bad to worse as soon as he yanked the device out of his ears.

"Maggie, go behind him, keep him on his side, it'll help him breathe better and ease some of the pain."

She did so but as she looked up at him through the tangled mess of her short cropped hair, her eyes were wet and her voice was so thick with barely suppressed tears it was almost impossible for her to speak at all.

"What do you know?" she asked. All eyes were on the medic and now Benjamin didn't even have the strength to be afraid. All he could feel was a terrible despair sinking deep into his gut. His New York accent lay heavy on his tongue as it always did when he was emotional.

"He's spitting up blood, and the breath in his lungs is wet. The bullet wasn't a through and through so that means its still lodged somewhere, and every time he breathes it's inching its way deeper into his chest, towards his lungs or his heart. He's lost so much blood already I'm surprised he's not in a coma." His eyes locked now with the brunette's as he spoke, and Daryl had never heard so much sorrow in his life. "He's dying, Maggie."

"He's drowning in his own blood, just like Dale," Fox whispered. It was not often there was true pain in her voice, she was far too guarded to allow such hurt to work its way inside where she could feel it, but this was Glenn's life, and he had been her family just as much as Daryl, Luna, Rick, and all the rest of the group had been. The thought of losing him was far more than she really wanted to take in.

Benjamin looked towards her and nodded. "But slower. This will be a slow, painful death. Unless we do something."

"You're not going to shoot him!" Maggie snarled, her eyes flaming with protective rage. "There has to be something you can do! Anything!" Her throat trembled as tears began leaking from her eyes. "Please…Benjy. Do something."

The medic's shoulders sagged as he rested on his knees. "I have no imaging equipment, I have nothing to help keep his breathing stable, nothing to…" he was cut off when Daryl's head jerked up and they all followed his gaze.

At first he thought it had just been the tomcat coming back through one of the broken windows but the movement had been too large and also faster than the thick furred animal. His fingers tightened on his bow and he caught Rick's gaze.

"Someone's out there," Daryl hissed.

Michonne unsheathed her sword and Rick, Daryl, Carl, and Fox had just climbed to their feet when the door to the warehouse opened again. They all drew their weapons but held back from firing when they saw it was a single figure silhouetted against the thin moonlight streaming in.

"Who the hell are you?" Daryl snarled, aiming his crossbow high and straight at the figure's head. They had a hood up over their head and some kind of cloth covering most of their face. Only their eyes were visible, almond shaped orbs of green, but a far paler shade than Fox's.

"I didn't come to hurt." The voice was muffled beneath their mask, making it impossible to tell if they were male or female. Daryl couldn't see if they were armed, but when the figure reached into their vest Daryl notched his bow higher.

"That's enough!" he growled, his finger just a hair's breath from tightening on the trigger.

The figure's wrist flicked faster than Daryl thought possible, and something flew through the air and landed at Daryl's feet with a metallic ping. Daryl kept the stranger covered with his bow but Rick dropped down to retrieve what they had tossed.

"This is a fifty caliber bullet," Rick murmured, inspecting the unspent round end over end in his hand.

"You!" Fox hissed, jabbing the tip of her dagger towards the intruder. "You shot those men in the firefight."

The pale green eyes blinked once in acknowledgement but otherwise did not move. It was then that Rick took a pace forward. He clearly also must have been wondering who had taken out their opponents in the middle of the firefight, there just hadn't been time to ask.

"Why did you help us?" he asked. His voice was borderline on threatening but the exhaustion and battle stress tempered it.

The head of the intruder tilted. "You are bonded," was the muffled answer. "You deserve to live." They paused and nudged their booted foot against the ground. "Those men do not care for their own. They kill and prey on the weak. I came to warn you that more will come. They own this place and will know you are here soon. You and your fallen comrade are not safe here."

Benjamin turned from his work and slid up to his feet, having obviously been listening the entire time. He carefully stepped out in front of the protective ring of the rest of the group and narrowed his eyes at the stranger. Rick watched him carefully as he did so.

"Impossible," the medic whispered. "It can't be."

"What is it Benjy?" Fox asked. She had not released her weapon, nor had any of the others lowered theirs. Michonne stood firmly with her sword unsheathed, eyes darting both from the intruder to probably the nearest exit. Daryl didn't blame her. With the shit storm that had just hit, he didn't hold it against her she was looking for an escape plan.

Benjamin didn't answer at first, but he looked across his shoulder and met Rick and Daryl's gaze briefly, asking them to wait silently. Everyone's eyes locked onto the medic and Daryl swore he saw what could only be described as excitement pass through the New Yorker. His stance relaxed and he loosened his shoulders, letting his hands rest at his sides.

"I know you." His voice was confident, more so than he usually spoke, the barest trace of laughter curling through the words.

The figure's stance tensed and so did everyone else's, all except for Benjamin's. "You cannot!" were the snarled words. "All from Before are dead!"

Benjamin shook his head. "I understand why you'd think that," he said, that almost laughing tone still in his words. "But I'm not dead. I know you, and you know me."

The intruder's right hand reached up and Daryl noticed that the ring and pinky finger, along with a decent chunk of the hand itself, were missing. The remaining fingers curled over the mask on their face and pulled it down. Eyes of green met hazel and there was no mistaking the look that passed between the intruder and the medic.

Recognition.

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**lunasky99**: _Haha so Mal wants Jenner dead almost as much as Luna and Judith, nice to know. I think it's touching that she hears her fathers voice when needed... well as touching as hearing a voice in your head can be. Great chapter!. xD_

Mal is ambivalent about Jenner. He is afraid of him because of his unpredictability and the fact that he has power over him, but Mal doesn't want to see the only chance of a cure for the plague get killed either. So he's conflicted. And of course Luna recalls her father's voice, as much as she can imagine it anyway. It helps cool her temper and keep them all from getting killed.

**RedneckBunny**: _There was something about this chapter I didn't like...I just can't tell what. Beautifully written as usual and not too long or short but something just gnawed at the back of my mind that angered me about it. Not just the obvious Jenner ordeal either... hmm... I guess you've gotten me too invested in the story! lol._

Heh, that's kind of a good thing actually. There should be something that doesn't sit right when all of these guys are involved together, so I'm rather proud of myself for that. Heh, next chapter really amps things up, but of course I cannot reveal in what way ;)

**FanFicGirl10**: _Luna is so her mothers daughter, feisty! But she does need to tone it done just a little, i don't want her to get herself or Judith killed. Update Soon!_

Indeed she is Fox's daughter, but let's not forget, she's half Dixon too, and Dixon's have a legendary temper in their own right, so Luna got a double dose, and being a teenager, her level of patience and ability to tolerate situations she thinks are threatening is barely developed. But she will do what she must to keep Judith safe, including unbending her pride.

**Emberka-2012**: _Luna is so much like her mother. Mal better to listen to Judith and not to anger Luna. Their attitude to the kidnappers will not be better if the girls are kept separate. Jenner, nothing good from him can be expected. If before he had problems with his head, but now the roof has gone completely. He is looking for a cure just a couple of decades, and has not moved. He said to girls he will release them, but did not say when, after a couple of decades, or will not let go at all. It seems to me or Mal not very respectfully speaks of Jenner and his team. He obeys him, but what keeps him there? And Milton felt something wrong with his boss. He thought Jenner has angelic wings behind the back? Man with wings will come later and hardly Jenner will be pleased._

Luna definitely inherited much of Fox's spit-fire mouth and penchant for violence (as Fox had suspected she would at the very end of Wildflower), but as with Fox, it will get her into some sticky situations if she doesn't learn to control it. Mal takes Judith's words to heart more than he lets on. He's very observant, and suspicious of anyone who could have survived this long in this kind of world being deaf- he knows Luna is dangerous. He doesn't care much whether Luna cooperates or not, just as long as she doesn't interfere with the routine he's got going. And you're right, if Jenner was mad before, he has dived completely off the deep end at this point. Decades of fruitless work with no answers to show for it could make anyone crazy, let alone him. Once he has the cure though, he'll let the girls go, because after that he has no use for them, and he's not much interested in a power trip like the Governor would be. As far as Mal and why he stays, there is a very interesting story behind that which I shall reveal in good time ;) Nah, Milton knows Jenner's no angel, or even a savior, but Jenner is the only one left with the experience and the skill to have any hope of curing the plague, so Milton tolerates his presence, as much as he can anyway. And you're right, the real man with the angel wings on his back is coming, and if Jenner thought Daryl caused problems before, he has a whole other hell-fire blaze headed straight for him.

**Brittney**: _Damn! I never thought I'd see Luna back down, but I understand why she did; Judith is family. she got Mal and Jenner good in the fight! Can't wait for chapter 11!_

Oh trust me, she was so not happy about it. She is disgusted with herself that she allowed herself to be beaten like that, but she wasn't going to let Judith get killed. Not only would it cripple her, because Judith is her best friend, but she wouldn't be able to face her family after if she was responsible for Judith's death. But she got her licks in as much as could be done while she had the chance, as she always will ;)

**rosemarycry**: _Another wonderful chapter. And why do I have this feeling Mal's attittude towards the girls will change?_

Because Mal is very calculated, and he believes that as time passes, both Judith and Luna will mellow out and not be such a handful to deal with. He has no interest in really hurting them or even getting under their skin. Mal deals back what he is given, as he is pushed, so he will push back just as hard, but no harder. He prefers to watch rather than get directly involved, hence why when he had the opportunity to really try and warn Jenner about Luna, he chose not to. Mal is a very interesting character and I'm looking forward to really showing him to you guys in the chapters to come ;)


	12. Chapter 12

_**And we are back again my beloved readers and reviewers. See, as promised, faster updates =) Can't guarantee that they'll always be this fast, but I will do my best. Thank you all for your lovely reviews, and favorites, and follows, it really does mean the world to me. And now, on with the show! **_

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She couldn't hear the hiss of metal moving through air when the door to her cell opened, but she'd seen the flicker of shadow underneath and slid smoothly from her bunk onto her feet. Her fingers clenched to fists as the door opened and it was hard to deny that she was relieved when it was Mal, not Jenner or Milton come to fetch her.

"Relax," was his opening statement. "Are you always this jumpy?"

She flexed the fingers in her hands, popping the knuckles to loosen them. "I have a reason to be," was her response. Since being trapped here she was forced to speak significantly more to be understood, and as such her speech was not as mangled as it used to be, although she did still often have to repeat things. Mal was usually quick to understand her though, in part because he did not just pay attention to the words, but to the way she held herself and her body language. He usually guessed the meanings of her communication if not always the specific words.

"Why? Have any of us hurt you since you were brought in?" Luna couldn't hear the carefully balanced tone between genuine concern and huffed exasperation, but she could see it written in his face. It irked her immediately.

"We should not be here. You should not be here," she told him gruffly. She was tempted to fold her arms over her chest, but didn't, just in case she might need to fight. That was what her life had boiled down to over the past several days. Looking for exits, weaknesses, anything she could take advantage of should she need to.

"Why not?" Mal asked casually, shrugging on broad shoulder. "There's food and shelter here. Other people. And none of the things outside trying to eat me."

Luna wrinkled her lip in disgust. "You follow Jenner's orders like a bitch. You are not free to do as you please, because you are afraid to face the world." A shadow of her father's snarl grated between her teeth and she liked to think he'd proud of her for sticking the truth to the man standing in front of her.

His grey eyes, so like the steel of her knife, turned just as hard. "You know nothing of the world." The tension in his jaw and throat reflected the growl in his tone that she couldn't hear. "I do not have to explain myself to the likes of you."

Luna's brow furrowed, but not for long. She took a step closer to him and was pleased when he held his ground. A rumble of approval hummed in her throat as she looked up at him. He was a good four or five inches taller than she was, but just like on the first night here, and every night after, she didn't let that ward her away.

"Only to your reflection," she hissed.

His face morphed rapidly between severe agitation, trying to suppress it with cool indifference, and something that might have even been fear. He finally managed to stop trying to crawl out of his skin and shifted so he was directly facing her. He admired her for her continual attempts to unnerve him, to cause him and anybody she dealt with as much aggravation and pain as possible. She would not take her punishment or confinement lying down; indeed she was determined to go out in a blaze of glory, reckless rushing and all. It was almost endearing, if it weren't for the fact that he was the one that had to put up with it most of the time, and whose neck was on the line if she caused trouble.

"Defiant to the end. It'll never get you anywhere you know," he told her, crossing his arms over his chest.

She clicked her teeth and narrowed her eyes at him and refuse to dignify his remark with a response. Instead she turned away from him and lounged on her bunk, waiting to see what he would do.

For a time he simply watched her, but he could not take the quietness between the two of them for very long. It felt too much like he was being stalked and about to be eaten alive, though she had not moved except to watch him closely with her eyes. "It would seem my boss has decided to let you out of here. For good behavior as it were."

Luna's eyes flashed like azure coals, but before she could speak, Mal continued.

"You and Judith can see each other, and I worked it so that you can share a room. If you'll come with me, I'll take you down to commons where you can see her, and meet the rest of us."

She stood up again. "The rest of us?" she questioned.

"The other members of generation one. Anyone born after the outbreak." She couldn't hear it, but she could see the inflection in the way his throat twitched and the way the tendons in his hand flexed just ever so slightly.

"Are you one of them?" she asked, loosening the growl in her voice as much as she could. She was sick of fighting with words in circles with him. It was a game she wouldn't win and it was exhausting. Maybe the key to getting out of here was to play along, to get in as deeply as she could, so she could find the secret. Her instinct rebelled at having to play such games, that was more Judith's tactics, but as her father had told her once 'you have to play the hand you're dealt.' She had asked him who had said that to him, and his eyes had grown dark with sadness and old pain as he'd said it was his brother. He'd refused to say anymore on the subject and she'd let it go, not wanting to see her father distressed like that.

Mal's eyes sparked like steel being struck. His lips twitched into a smirk and her blood began to simmer in anger. He took her question for curiosity, as if she cared, as a weakness, and it made her want to have her knuckles meet his teeth with significant velocity to prove him wrong. He seemed to see this desire written all over her face, but when she did not move, his smirk turned into an all out shit eating grin.

"You're smarter than you look, Luna," he countered. She was grateful she couldn't hear his voice, because if she'd of been able to hear the sneer and mocking businesslike tone that he used she was sure she would have decked him for everything she was worth. As it was she tried her best to cool the wild heat in her gut by reminding herself that they were going to let her out of this metal box, as long as she didn't screw this up.

His hand fell on the knob of the door and Luna couldn't disguise how badly she was clambering for him to open it. She tried to restrain herself as much as possible, to avoid having to show him that she did care immensely about the power he had over her, but it was no use. She wanted it too badly and they both knew it. To his credit, he didn't let that knowledge cross over his face.

Much anyway.

His wrist twisted and the door opened. He was curious to see if she would bolt and try to make a break for it, and he half expected her too, so he had to let out an exhale of relief when she didn't. She shifted her weight to the balls of her feet and clicked her teeth at him.

"Lead the way," she said pointedly.

He chuckled softly, mostly just in his eyes, and then walked out with her following close behind. There was little to see at first as he led her through the metal and stone hallways but she still soaked it all in as much as she could, both as a change of scenery, and for future reference.

"Is this underground?" she asked him as they walked up another flight of stairs.

He nodded to her, twisting slightly on his shoulder so she could see his face. "When what was left of law and order came back to reclaim this place, they figured it was safer if they rebuilt underground. That's what we've been doing the past two decades."

"We?" she asked quietly.

He shrugged his shoulder again. "We. Anybody who's been down here working."

"How long have you been here?" she asked as he led her through a corridor that was more spacious and well lit. She couldn't hear the voices floating from behind the doors or occasionally through the halls, but she could smell that the air was different. It was less harsh and metallic and carried with it the flavors of heat and sweat, signs of inhabitation. There were people close by.

"A long time," he murmured quietly. When she stared at him blankly he realized she hadn't been watching him as he responded, so he repeated it, with less inflection. She blinked in acknowledgement and she slid up from behind him to stand nearer to his side so she could keep a better watch on him. For what had to be the millionth time she felt the pang of disappointment and loss from missing Judith's presence watching her back, warning her of the things she couldn't hear.

He led her through a menagerie of hallways and corridors until they reached a set of double doors. He held his hand out for a moment to stop her from walking right in and met her eyes carefully.

"These are the rest of the test subjects. Don't pick fights, or they'll just throw you right back into the cell, got it?"

She narrowed her eyes at him. She didn't dignify his caution with a response, at least not a verbal one. There was fire in her eyes and a hard slant to her mouth that told him everything he needed to know before she all but kicked the door open and marched in.

She was met with about thirty pairs of eyes all staring at her as she flung the door open with a lot more force than was strictly necessary. Mal stood at her shoulder, watching and waiting, ready to intervene if he had to, but he realized that Luna was a lot more animalistic than most. She needed to establish her boundaries and her rank amongst the group. She didn't know how to interact like most people. He kept that in mind as he watched the unfolding scene.

She had never seen so many of her age-mates before, but one set of eyes she felt herself all but burning for sheer joy. She let out a strangled but happy sound of excitement and wove her way through the crowd of chairs and couches and other pieces of furniture and flung herself into Judith's arms who as soon as the door had opened had turned with the rest to see what was going on.

The sisters embraced amongst the hurried flurry of whispers and twitching looks. Luna nuzzled Judith's neck, a rumbling sound in her throat as she pressed her face into her sister's neck and shoulder. When she managed to pull back she was hard pressed to let go, but she did so she could sign.

"I missed you."

Judith grabbed her for another embrace before squeezing Luna's hand and signing as well. "I missed you too."

Mal watched the two girls closely, tipping his head to the side as he did so. Leland sidled up to him, watching as well.

"How has Judith settled in?" Mal asked quietly. Like a watchdog tending sheep, Mal considered himself the head of the young test subjects that Jenner had collected over the years, and as such, he knew almost all of the comings and goings of the group, and he made it his business to make sure nobody started trouble.

"She's taken to it ok, a lot like most of the others. Biggest thing was she wanted to see Luna." He kept his tone low and his eyes firmly fixed on the pair who had now settled into rapidly communicating with their hands. It unnerved him slightly that they could speak without anyone else knowing what they were saying, but he couldn't begrudge it, not when Luna was legitimately deaf.

"And the others? How have they responded to her?"

Leland shifted slightly. "Hit or miss. She was talking to Harley and Chris yesterday, seemed to be ok. She ate breakfast with me and Tau this morning."

Mal nodded. "If I'm right, Judith will help bridge the gap between Luna and the rest of the group. With her being deaf, I'm sure Luna has even less experience with social norms, which is why she acts the way she does."

"Oh you mean like a wild animal?" Leland shot back with a slight twitch to his lips. He clearly had not forgotten that Luna had almost killed him down in the catacombs.

"Precisely." This was delivered with a slight smirk that Leland did not appreciate and he showed this by hissing a cussing remark underneath his breath. Mal smoothed his features over easily enough before he could begin to sulk and continued. "If you can, don't let Luna talk with Raoul, or Simon for that matter. They will provoke her unnecessarily."

"Isn't that the whole point though? That she has to learn to get along in a group?" Leland asked.

Mal shrugged. "That's just what Milton says. I know enough to know that Luna doesn't just defend herself. She goes looking for trouble."

Leland paused. "What about the cage…"

"No!" The word was sharp, and if Leland was not mistaken, peppered with a cadence of nerves. "Not yet. They both need to trust us."

Leland nodded and Mal slipped through the crowd towards the two girls who immediately dropped their hands when they saw he was approaching them. Luna tilted her head at him with a dissatisfied look.

"You're the only one who's got a gun," she commented.

Mal shrugged, his fingers unconsciously brushing the top of the holster wrapped around his thigh. "I have permission."

Luna snorted. "Hand-licker," she hissed, raising her palm and pretending to lap at it like a dog would lick its master's hand. Angry heat bloomed in his veins but he cooled it before it could show itself on his face.

"Notice the dog gets fed and a warm place to sleep and scratching behind the ears. Things you don't have," Mal pointed out.

"And get's fat and lazy and too stupid to think for itself. And can't care for itself in the wild," Luna shot back.

"Ok enough," Judith intervened, seeing that Luna was gearing up for a fight. It was going to take all her energy just to keep her from shooting both of them in the foot. She pulled on Luna's arm and forced her to meet her eyes even though she used her hands to speak.

"Don't pick fights. Not here, not now, or they'll split us up again. Do you want that?" The movements of her fingers were tense.

Luna gritted her teeth. "Someone needs to slap him until his teeth bleed."

Judith sighed. "What would that accomplish? We're stuck here. We have to make the best of it. We don't do that by kicking the hornets nest."

Luna didn't respond. She knew Judith was right, but it stung her pride and made her blood boil to admit to it. Her silence was enough for her sister though, who exhaled a breath of relief. Mal slipped out of the room but Leland was quick to take his place.

"If you'd like, I can take you down to the dorms that you'll be using so you can get settled in," he said.

Luna surveyed him with a coolness that made him nervous. A smile filled with sharp white teeth graced her face and if there had been less animal like wildness it would have been pretty.

"Smells like fear," Luna growled verbally. "Relax. You're not worth the time to hurt."

"Luna," Judith said sharply.

"Hey! Why don't you shut your mouth? You just got here, crazy bitch. Why don't you have a little respect?"

The sharp words were delivered from a brawny teenager that had a height and weight advantage on even Mal. Tendons flexed in his meaty hands as he approached Luna, Judith, and Leland, brown eyes made of molten lead watching them with calculated disdain and disgust. A thatch of dark brown hair covered his head that swung back and forth, eyeing the newcomers with distrust and anger.

"Raoul, it's fine," Leland tried to diffuse the situation.

"The hell it is. This little bitch has caused so much trouble and everybody's tip-toing around her like she's queen bee. I got news for you princess, you gotta earn your stripes here." His square, strong jaw pushed towards Luna's face and she bristled, baring her teeth.

"I'll start with you!" Luna snarled. There wasn't an ounce of fear or cowardice in her as she spoke. If anything her blood was flaming and her muscles twitched eagerly for a hard scrap.

"What's the matter with you? Your family never teach you how to speak like a normal person?" The jibe was accompanied by a sneer.

"Hey! Don't talk to her like that!" Judith spat, getting in-between Raoul and Luna. "She's deaf!"

Luna grabbed Judith by the shoulder and slung her out of the way so she was no longer in between her and Raoul. Anger burned something fierce in her eyes and Judith realized she'd made a mistake, and just made the impending shit-storm go from bad to ten times worse.

"I'll rip your throat out with my teeth if you give me reason." There was no lie in Luna's eyes, or in her voice, which was murderous. "Don't think I can't."

"Raoul! Back off!"

The slight ring that had begun to form around the adversaries dissipated like flies kicked off a carcass. A boy similar in build and appearance to Raoul came up and clapped him on the shoulder and forcibly tugged him away from Luna and Judith. "Easy killah' no need to go starting trouble."

"Oh lay off of it, Simon. Little bitch could use a lesson or two," Raoul growled, his fingers curling to fists.

"Ain't that the truth," Luna spat right at his feet.

The so dubbed Simon, who looked remarkably like Raoul except for the dirty blonde hair on his head, pushed Raoul further away. "Ain't a fair fight. You'll get your chance later, go on."

Raoul grumbled something and flipped the group off but retreated. Simon turned back to Luna, Judith, and Leland, and exhaled a short breath of relief.

"Sorry about that. Raoul doesn't take kindly to strangers. Never has. I'm Simon, his older brother." He extended his hand and it was cautiously accepted by Judith but pointedly not by Luna.

"What chance?" Luna asked, referring to what Simon had said to his brother as he had walked away.

Leland cut his eyes at Simon, silencing him, which was something to be said considering Leland was a bare five seven to his at least six foot stature and weighed at least thirty or forty pounds less than he did. Simon shrugged.

"You'll find out soon enough," was all he said before he retreated back to where his brother was leaning on one of the tables near the back wall.

It was only now that Luna really bothered to take in her surroundings. They were in some kind of large common room, there were couches and chairs scattered in various places, several large bookcases full of books, a large table covered in green felt in the corner, and several ancient metal machines that she dimly recognized as arcade games. She'd seen them once on a supply run with her parents and Carl had excitedly explained to her how they worked. These were not dusty relics or uncared for however, and so Luna could only assumed they worked. Cables ran to plugs in the walls and she recalled stories of electrical power that lighted up homes and buildings and made an infinite number of machines work. Her father had explained it to her when he would give the family's vehicles tune-ups.

"If you'll follow me," Leland said, gesturing to the door and to Luna and Judith. Judith followed willingly but Luna was slower to do so, eyeing Raoul who was leaning on the felt covered table. She remembered listening to Carl talk about a run that the boys had made into town for alcohol and since there had been no Walkers, they'd played a few rounds of a game called pool. Luna didn't see the appeal to shooting balls into pockets with sticks, but she suspected the fun lay much more in the whiskey and shit talk between the men.

Leland led them through several more corridors, passing a few adults who acknowledged him as they went. Luna kept a very close watch on everything, hemmed in at her shoulder by Judith. She understood the silent communication- to just go with whatever was happening. It wasn't long until they turned down a long corridor lined with ten doors on each side. Leland took them to the last door on the left and used a key on a chain from around his neck very similar, or the same, as the one Mal had on the first night they'd been brought here, to unlock the door. When they did, they were greeted with small quarters, two bunk beds on opposite side of the room, a dresser between them and a rack on either side at the foot of the bunk beds. On the right side the rack was full of clothing, almost to the point of being overstuffed, and there were shoes tucked up under the side of the bed.

"You'll be sharing this room with me and Tau. The longer you stay the more stuff you'll accumulate, trust me," Leland explained.

"What about the stuff we came here with?" Judith questioned. "It was seized at the base in Colorado. We'd like it back."

"Ah, that's right, I remember Mal mentioning it. You can't have your weapons back, but the clothes you had have been laundered and are in the bottom drawer." He pointed to the dresser.

"Where are our weapons?" Luna growled as Judith moved past her and opened up the dresser, surprised, and somehow relieved, that Leland had spoken the truth and the clothes they'd had on were folded neatly right where he said they would be.

Leland fidgeted uncomfortably and Luna's tongue flicked behind her teeth. He made it too easy to scare him. Her mother would have taken advantage of that and purposefully frightened him, just to fuck with him, but she was a lot more interested in the end goal.

"Where are they?" she demanded.

"In the armory. But like I said, you can't have them. Only people with special permission can carry inside." He was flinching back away from her and now Judith turned and let her fingers close on Luna's upper arm and pulled her away from where she was advancing on Leland.

"Don't," was the clipped sign from Judith's free hand. "Don't ruin this for us."

Luna snarled and clicked her teeth at Judith. "Maybe you should keep your mouth shut!" Luna signed back, yanking her arm free from Judith's grip.

Judith's pride was stung. She had made a mistake by what she had blurted out before in the common room, or at least Luna would have seen it as a mistake. By exposing her weakness, it was going to be more tempting for someone to take advantage of Luna or to try and hurt her. Judith was of the opinion that the more information that was on the table between them and their captors, the less friction, and therefore, the less conflict, there would be. But Luna had always been much more animalistic than herself, and she suspected that she hadn't just learned it from her parents, but she'd been born with it. Who was right and who was wrong was determined by who was left standing at the end of a fight as far as Luna was concerned. Growing up with Judith had tempered that, but it was less evident now that they were away from their family.

"Who is allowed to carry?" Judith asked, turning back to Leland who didn't seem to have breathed this entire time but now let out a very cautious exhale when Judith gently nudged Luna back towards the bunk a few feet further away from their host.

"Out of us, only Mal is allowed to carry inside," he explained.

"So he's the leader." Luna deduced with a rough growl in her throat.

Leland shrugged. "I guess. I mean he's the one who deals with Milton and Jenner most of the time. He organizes the patrols and the runs into the city that we do."

"Wait, runs?" Judith demanded. "What runs? I thought the city was a no go?"

Leland shifted his weight lightly on the balls of his feet, as if preparing to have to jump out of the way. "Not exactly. Every so often we still have to go out into it and bring back supplies. Mostly to the chemical plant on the other side of town. Jenner needs things from the factory for his experiments. And it's also our chance to bring back things that we want if we can risk finding it. There parts of the city that are more crowded than others."

"And the tunnels. That's how you get around," Judith reasoned.

Leland nodded. "Ever since the world fell apart, Jenner and whoever he had with him have been working on the expanding the complex that was started beneath the CDC when it was built. It's been slow going because we have to work mostly by hand and sometimes the Walkers find their way in. We're trying to connect our tunnels to the sewage system so that we have access to the entirety of the city but because they've been so out of repair a lot of places are blocked off and caved in."

For her part Luna remained quiet, at least at first. She wanted to talk to Judith about it, but not when Leland was here, even if he couldn't understand their sign language. "So how come Mal gets to carry inside?" she questioned.

It wasn't Leland who answered. The door swung open again and another teenager walked in, a girl who stood at an impressive five foot ten with a sturdy, muscular build and a mane of hair so thick and curly and long it reminded Luna of pictures of a lion's mane she'd seen in some of the books that she'd grown up with as a child. Her skin was a deep tan color, like the hides of cougars her father occasionally had hunted when they came too close to camp. Her eyes were a bright liquid brown with a soft auburn tone like the reddish hues of leaves in the fall. Luna remained still and let the situation soak into her system, taking her time before settling on a reaction due to the girl's strong, muscular build and the look in her eye that reminded her of her father- stern and take no prisoners. It made her wary, but it was also incredibly refreshing after Mal's infuriating smirk and Leland's shakiness.

"Mal gets to carry because he's Jenner's favorite."

"Luna, this is Tau, Tau, this is Luna, the one who will fill the last slot for this room." Leland's voice was soft, and because Judith could see that Luna was watching Tau, she signed what Leland had said, all under the observation of Tau's quick gaze.

"So you're the one causing all kinds of trouble," Tau said, her voice deep and husky, not that Luna could hear, but she did not miss the glimmer of humor in her eyes. "Good on you, it's nice to have a little life spark back into this place."

Luna snickered. She liked this girl already. "Is Raoul always such an asshole?" she asked, her thick voice grating on the words, but Tau seemed to understand just fine, if her laughter was anyway to judge.

"Raoul thinks he's such hot shit, but he's sore cause him and Simon were denied permits to carry inside the building. Probably not a good idea to pick on him though, his little ego just can't take it."

Leland snorted with laughter and Luna did too. Judith joined in more cautiously, but she was relieved to see that Luna was finally getting along with someone without a knock down drag out fight first.

After Luna and Judith settled in as much as they could Tau began to explain more about the daily running of the facility. "You'll figure out the routine here pretty quick. Breakfast first, then duty stations. After morning chores we break for lunch, then go back to work until dinner. After dinner you're off shift and free to do as you please, unless you have a night shift job. Most of us don't have those though; only Mal, Leland, and a few others have night jobs." This she said with a small smile and briefly tussled Leland's dark hair. Under her large hand he flinched but playfully batted her away, and immediately Judith felt more at ease. Tau continued once Leland had ducked out from her under mussing grip. "Once a week we meet with Jenner for a progress report to change one of the conditions of the experiment. If he says jump, you don't ask how high, just jump as high as you can."

Luna's teeth clicked. "Did Mal not tell you? I almost killed Jenner the other night. I don't take orders from him." She neglected to point out how he had threatened Judith's life in order to force her compliance.

Tau's eyes went wide. "No. He didn't say anything." Her voice was soft and she cut her eyes to Leland.

"Don't test Jenner, Luna. It won't end well for you," Leland said quietly.

Tau nodded in agreement. "You're not the first to make trouble. Aggravating Mal is funny, but don't push Jenner. He's killed people for a lot less."

Luna shrugged. "I'm a Dixon. I'm not afraid of some psycho in a white coat." Underneath the rasp of her voice she

Tau's eyes went wide and Luna tilted her head at her surprised look. She didn't bother to ask what, she didn't need to.

"The adults tell stories of someone named Dixon. How he killed Jenner's right hand man years ago, and drove off his lieutenant." Tau tilted her head and now her eyes took on a suspicious gleam. "You related?"

Luna smirked, something Judith could have kicked her for. The last thing they needed was to rouse suspicion or distrust, but Luna reveled in any sense of power or intimidation she could have. Judith understood why, but that didn't mean she liked it one bit.

"So my dad is the subject of your ghost stories. This'll be fun." Her teeth gleamed in the harsh lights of the dorm room and Leland grew tense. He drew himself up to his full height and stared Luna down with as much authority as he could.

"Don't start trouble. Or you'll get thrown right back into the cells."

"He's right, Luna." Tau's voice was filled with warning. "Just because we're here and they look out for us doesn't mean we're not disposable. They've always been able to find more of us. You're replaceable."

Luna bristled but didn't argue after a look from Judith. She turned back on the rest of the group and began to rifle through the bottom drawer of the dresser, effectively shutting down. Judith sighed but accepted it. At least fur wasn't flying.

"How often do they bring new ones in?" Judith asked Tau.

"Whenever they find them. You two are the newest ones we've had for months though." She swept pieces of her thick hair away from her face and then plucked at a heavy duty band around her wrist and began to tie her mane back. "It's nice to have another set of roommates. The room always felt off kilter."

Luna looked up. She hadn't heard what Tau had said, but she could see the sadness in her eyes and she could see the way she stared longingly towards the bunks that Luna and Judith would occupy.

"What happened to the ones before?"

Tau squared her shoulders and tightened her jaw as much as she could. "One of them died in an accident in Jenner's lab. Another was bit down in the catacombs." When Luna didn't understand, she elaborated. "The tunnels beneath Atlanta's streets." She rolled her shoulders uncomfortably and did her best to shake off her sadness, but a shadow of it remained in her eyes. "Come find us for dinner, I'll introduce you to some of the others and we'll figure out where to put you for work." Tau turned on her heel and left and Leland was close behind.

"She doesn't like to talk about it," he explained quietly. "Both of our old roommates were close friends of hers."

"So people still die here. Despite the walls and the guns." Judith's voice was not cold but neither was it friendly. Leland seemed to understand and nodded sadly.

"We do everything we can, but it still happens. When we go out to scavenge for anything that's left we do our best but we're not fighters. Maybe you two can help us with that." His eyes gleamed with a tenor of hope and maybe longing. "The way you two took out that group of Walkers in the tunnels. I've never seen anything like it before."

Luna was silent and this time she deferred to Judith. She could see the wheels in her sister's head spinning a mile a minute. She always got that look, just like her father did, when she was formulating a plan, and right now it was very clear that it wasn't exactly set up yet, and to not ruin it.

He left them alone in the room but didn't shut the door after he left. Judith did however and as soon as it was closed she spun around to face Luna.

"That's our in," she hissed. "That's how we get them to trust us."

"By making them more dangerous to us than before? Good plan." This she signed, giving her throat a rest from all of the talking she had done.

"Luna, we're never getting out of here unless they help us!" Judith's eyes were sparkling like ice crystals caught in sunlight. "If we help them, they'll trust us, and then maybe we can persuade them to help us. What's it to them if they let two of us go?"

Luna's eyes narrowed and she repeated the sign she'd thrown at Mal as an insult, pretending to lick her palm like a dog. Judith remembered the conflict from earlier and furrowed her brow. "What about him?" she demanded.

"He's Jenner's bitch," she elaborated. "He won't trust us. Even if we help his friends. If they are his friends at all."

"They are," Judith said firmly. If she had learned anything over the past three days of watching the rest of the group of experiments interact with Mal, it was that despite all his sarcasm and coolness, he did care for the other kids. "He watches out for them. Anybody has a problem, they go to him."

Luna shook her head and shrugged. "They didn't give him the gun. Jenner did. That's all that matters."

"Maybe," Judith conceded. Luna watched as the wheels spun like the barrel of Rick's python when flicked and she tipped her head. Excitement like sunlight gleaming on metal burned in Judith's eyes. "You could find out for sure though. You could help him trust us."

Luna's teeth bared. "You've lost your mind!" she scoffed.

"I'm serious! He's too suspicious of me, but he doesn't think you're that smart. Looks like you're shoot first ask questions anger paid off, for once." A smirk twitched with her lips and she put both hands on Luna's shoulders. "This could be our ticket out of here, Luna."

"What makes you think that it would even work? I hate him, and I don't know how to play games." Her jaw tightened even as she signed, refusing to speak because the words put a bad taste in her mouth.

"That's just it. You don't have to play games. Just…get to know him. Show him you're not all bad. He's not evil, Luna."

Luna's eyes narrowed. "He's holding us hostage just because Jenner tells him too. He can't think for himself. Sure, he didn't throw the net on us, but he didn't do anything to prevent it."

"You don't know the whole story, Luna. Maybe he doesn't have a choice, maybe he's trying to make the best of a bad situation. Just. Like. Us." This she punctuated with signs that she drew into her sister's palm. Luna didn't pull her hand back and she stared into her sister's eyes. There was a pleading look there, a begging question for just a chance. It was against everything in Luna's nature, but she had to admit, their options were extremely limited. If they ever wanted to make it out of here alive, they were going to have to get creative, and Judith had the better handle on such skills.

"Give him a reason to think for himself," Judith encouraged softly. "You get under his skin. It's obvious. If he's as close to Jenner as I think he is, he's the one that can help us. If his friends support us, all the more power of persuasion."

Luna growled in her throat. "What makes you think it'll work?"

Judith squeezed her hand gently and sighed. She pulled Luna into an embrace for a very long moment, just trying not to go to pieces from the stress. Luna could feel her sister shaking and was surprised by it but she did not respond to it immediately.

"We have to try. Outright violence and trying to run out the door didn't work. It's our only chance."

When Judith lifted her head off of Luna's shoulder they met each other's gaze measure for measure. She could see the aching longing to go home and the loneliness for her family as much as Luna could feel within herself and a part of her was reassured. She nodded slowly.

"I'll do what I can."

Judith smiled and squeezed Luna's shoulder tight, and in that grip was all the answer that Luna ever needed to satisfy her questions of Judith's motives and end game. There was pain and loneliness there, but an absolutely unyielding desire to be trapped down here for the rest of her days, and a willingness to do anything she had to do in order to see themselves freed.

"We both will."

* * *

**FanFicGirl10**: _Nooooooooooooo! YOU CANNOT KILL GLENN! He's my favorite. I hope this new guy abd Ben help Glenn survive. Cliffhanger, Update Soon!_

Mm, will I be that evil and kill Glenn? Only time will tell xD He's one of my favs too. And as to the newcomer, mmm, I'm so excited to introduce them to you guys.

**ObjectiveObserverFromAfar**: _Oh my gosh, my heart is breaking right now. I really hope you keep Glenn around, but I understand in the world of Walking Dead no one is safe...even characters we have come to know and love. But to be taken out by other living men after they've been able to survive for so long in the post-apocalyptic world-gah, I just wish Glenn was able to die warm in his bed with Maggie at his side. I am intrigued by this stranger and look forward to seeing who he/she is and how Benjy knows them. Great update! Don't keep us waiting too long :)_

Indeed, this is The Walking Dead, and nobody's ever really safe. That's the most repeated phrase I've seen Robert Kirkman use in interviews when they ask about killing off charries. To me though it almost makes sense that if someone's gonna die, it's probably going to be from a threat that they're not used to, such as other hostile groups. Since this is almost 20 years into the future, anybody that has survived is probably ruthless and efficient at getting what they need- especially from preying on others who are less suspicious. Regardless of what happens though, Maggie will remain at Glenn's side, as would he remain at hers. Ooh, Benjy's mysterious recognition, I am sooo excited to throw this new element into the works.

**Brittney**:_ YOU CRUEL CRUEL PERSON! GLENN, NO! You can't kill him! But I guess in a zombie filled universe people must die...mystery person I suspect is Merle by the description. Who else do we know is missing ring and pinky fingers? Can't wait for the next chapter! : )_

Well, what I can tell you is the mystery person ISN'T Merle. Don't worry though, Merle will make an appearance soon enough, but obviously I can't say how or why. As for Glenn and his fate, don't worry, I have taken into a very steep consideration what will befall him, you guys will just have to wait and see ;)

**Emberka-2012**: _Oh no, I hope they will save Glenn. Their group and without those losses so small. If Benji knew stranger before, he can be a doctor? "chunk of the hand"? So he was bitten?_

It would be absolutely crushing if they were to lose Glenn, not just because of the emotional loss, but also as you pointed out, because they are so small as it is. Losing anyone else would put their odds for survival at even less. And I shall reveal all of who this stranger is, and how Benji knows them, as well as the issue of the hand, all in good time my friend =)

**jouetdedestin**: _You cannot kill Glenn! :(_

Oh but I can! The question is whether I will or not, and for that, you'll just have to keep reading….

**Lacil**: _You really do know how to keep a girl on the edge of her seat! Wonderful update, it was nice to see our rescue crew make some headway before you threw another lovely and descriptive wrench into the gears. I can't wait to see where you take this! I was hoping for Benjy to cross paths with a former friend in the last story, so this was a very nice little surprise! I love a good bonus :) Very curious as to who this stranger will turn out to be and what she will mean to the group. As for Maggie, I was able to feel her pain and anger through your descriptions and I am very pleased at her ferocity where it concerned Glenn. And I have to say that I was struck when Fox admitted to herself that she fights better alongside Daryl, I too fight better next to my love. At least we aren't fighting Walkers, but you pinpointed the way a soul couple feels about each other and I loved it!_

I'm so glad you enjoyed the chapter, I'm almost nervous when I throw twists and things like this into the story, but it's part of what makes the Walking Dead fandom so great in general, because no one's safe, and anything can happen at any time. I definitely knew that in the sequel I wanted Benjy to have more screen time, and a little more of his background to be revealed, so I'm really excited to get to play around with him and this newcomer =) I'm not sure if anybody else had picked up on this, but I felt like when I was writing this chapter, particularly where Maggie was concerned, that there were strong tenors of similarity between her and Fox, and how they feel about things when someone they love is threatened. Maggie will do anything she has to do to protect her family, but especially Glenn, and the fact that she couldn't, that she's so close to losing him…I think it would be enough to make anyone ferocious enough to take on the whole world single-handedly. Ah, Fox, she has always known, but maybe not always admitted to the fact, that she fights better when she's at Daryl's side. When she knows he's with her, she fights twice as hard, in someways, to prove her worth, because there is a part of her that will /always/ operate from a place where she feels like she has to prove she deserves to be with him, and with the group. And I can't help thinking most people would fight stronger with someone that they cared about at their side…especially if facing a world full of zombies.

**Jerrie D**: _Wow, Glenn is on the verge of dying and there's nothing that Benjy can do? OH THE AGONY! I know Maggie is having a hard ass time taking all that in. I really wonder what you have in store for the poor Asian. Omg, the blood drinking is what topped this whole chapter. I would definitely be in Benjy's boat right now. Ugh... but they're all strong for withstanding all of that. That's for sure. Great chapter over all but I'm really worried around what's going to happen to Luna, Judith, Mal and Jenner. I wanna know how gruesome his experiments get. :p_

Mmm, there might yet be something Benjy can do, but he's gonna need help. A lot of help. Oh the Agony indeed, Maggie is not holding up so well right now, not that I really think anybody would if they were in her shoes. I would so be in Benjy's boat as well if I were forced to drink blood, but when push comes to shove, you'll do what you have to do to survive, even if you never thought you could get pushed to that point. As far as Judith, Luna, Mal, and Jenner, I have plenty up my sleeve, and the lengths that Jenner is willing to go to accomplish his goals is frightening to say the least….It's good to hear from you my friend, I was worried I had lost you along the way!

**lunasky99**: _Oh my god!. I can't believe Glenn got shot!. He can't die, he just can't!. Loved the gun fight it was EPIC!. Who is it?._

Mmm, poor poor Glenn, he's not doing so hot right now is he? But he's hanging in there for now…and I'm glad you liked the action, I work hard to make those scenes as vivid and chaotic as possible. As far as who the newcomer is, you'll just have to wait and see!

**RedneckBunny**: _Damn cliffhanging! I MUST KNOW THIS NEW PERSON! AND YOU MUST NOT LET GLENN DIE!_

I'm getting good at cliffhangers hm? Well, better anyway. Ooooh, all the unanswered questions, in time my friend!


	13. Chapter 13

_**Alright guys. PLEASE don't kill me for being so late with this. Part of the reason it's so late is because I literally wrote TWENTY PAGES for this chapter, but in the end I just wasn't happy with it. So I axed ALL of it, and started completely new, and I'm much happier with this version. It's kinda different from my usual writing style, and I'll probably only use it for this chapter, because I wanted this one to encompass so many different perspectives, and this was kind of the only way to do it without going in too deep and writing yet another twenty pages. So I really hope you guys enjoy, and as always, tell me what you think with your lovely reviews!**_

Everyone is removed from what's happened. They're all so tired, split open like an ax taken to a log of wood, all their softness and pain bled out onto the floor. They all have different view points that they see when they finally sink into unconsciousness for the night. The night comes back to them in different ways and they all know it's not something they will ever forget. When all their eyes open and they find each other slowly, reaffirming their bond, but between all of them passes their own version of what happened during the night. All the memories play, all the feelings roil through them again, and later when they have a minute to breathe maybe they'll break down. But for now it all just hums between them like static on the radio, messages passing through the waves like a distorted television picture.

* * *

_ He'd never thought he'd see her again. The last time he had seen her was the night before the world collapsed. They'd been out drinking in a local bar that was a favorite amongst college kids, and gate crashers like her who didn't have the money for his fancy school and didn't like to let them think that they could keep her out of their chic little hang out._

_ "You believe what they say? People going nuts, running out and trying to bite anything that moves?" _

_ She took down her shot of vodka, the liquor so cold it burned and punching every inch of her throat, having refused to pay top shelf prices, or let any lecherous man with an eye for her shell out the cash either. The tattoo of an ivy vine snaked from her right hand, winding whimsically all the way up her arm to her shoulder, the leather vest and tank top she wore hiding its twisting ending on her shoulder blade. Jade green eyes watched him closely as she signaled the bar tender for another round while drunken college kids howled at whatever sporting event was on TV. He hadn't been paying attention then. He'd been watching her, waiting for what she'd say. She'd always had a good judge of things like that. He'd been book smart all his life, a practical walking encyclopedia of useless random knowledge, and lately his medical studies, which were crowding out room for anything else. She wasn't like that; she was smart as a whip when it came to the practicalities of every day life. She'd seen the roughest parts of some of the most dangerous places and she was still standing no worse for wear. Her voice was tempered with her accent and roughened by the alcohol when she answered him. _

_ "I believe people are gonna start to panic if something happens. And this is a bad place to be in a pandemonium." _

_ He took the last swig of his beer and set the glass down on the bar. "My parents have a cabin out in the mountains. They always said that if shit was going to hit the fan that I should go there. It's stocked up with all kinds of stuff." _

_ She narrowed her eyes at him and clipped him hard on the side of the head. "Moron! Don't go blasting that all over the place!" _

_ He flinched a bit from her. "Jesus, Ivy, it's not like anybody's listening!" He wished he wouldn't have sounded like he was whining. If there was one thing Ivy Sokolv did not take kindly to, it was moaning. _

_ Her eyes were still narrowed as the bartender handed her another shot. She threw it back easily before sending the shot glass back across the bar and all but glared at him, and hell if it wasn't an intimidating stare. "You'd be surprised, Benjy." _

_ "Well what do you wanna do then?" he asked. _

_ She was digging into the pocket of her slim black pants for a wad of damp, crumpled bills. She tossed it down onto the bar and slid off her stool. He hurried to catch up with her, flexing his credit card to pay his tab before following her to the door and out into the humid air. New York in summer, contrary to the Confederate belief, did not benefit from its northern location. It got just as hot and almost as humid depending on the day, and today was certainly one of those days. People were everywhere, scurrying about their lives, traffic crawling past on the streets, other hurrying figures disappearing into the metro tunnels, eager to get home for the night after a long day on the job. Despite the apparent normalcy of the scene around him, Benjamin couldn't shake that something was off. The air felt tense, or maybe that was just the space between him and Ivy. _

_ "If shit hits the fan, we're dead in the water here." Her voice was deep with something less like anxiety and more like foreboding. _

_ He scoffed a bit at her seriousness. "Come on, Ivy, don't be so dramatic." _

_ But he couldn't shake the warning look in her eyes. Her posture radiated tension as she crossed her arms over her chest. Her platinum blonde hair blew in the warm breeze, brushing against her face and neck as she watched him with marked interest and maybe exasperation. _

_ "There's over a million people in Manhattan alone, Benjy. And if shit goes down, it's every fucking man for themselves! You saw those news reports!" _

_ He glared at her. "Yeah, and I also saw the reports that came on an hour later saying it was just a hoax." _

_ She laid her hands on his shoulders, gripping him tightly. Her slender fingers had a lot more strength to them than he'd first given her credit for, but he'd felt that tight grip of her hands more than once, in many different circumstances. _

_ "Benjy I'm serious. I think maybe we should clear out of here before things get really bad. I can't get through to my parents, and I was reading online that this isn't just here in New York. Other states are having similar reports. Crazy fucks who look dead trying to bite people." _

_ He was shocked at her tone; low, serious, and now pleading rather than angry. Never once in the time that he'd known Ivy had he seen her afraid. He supposed having come over from Russia when she was only eighteen with nothing but herself to rely on would do that to a person. _

_ "I think we should get out of the city. At least for a couple days, let things simmer down. Come back when it's safe." _

_ He tipped his head to the side. "I have an exam tomorrow, I can't just bail. If I miss it I'll fail my class and then I'll have to repeat the entire year." _

_ She gritted her teeth and rubbed her temples. "Yeah, and I have to work. The world could come crashing down around them but I still gotta drive those rich fucks from place to place." _

_ He put a hand on her shoulder and offered her a smile. "Hey. If something bad does happen, you're always welcome at my place. Either in my apartment or out in the sticks. My parents can just deal, I'm sure they'd understand if it came to that." _

_ She smiled back at him and combed her long fingers through his hair. "Spasibo _(thank you)_" she murmured. They stood at the same height, but even still she arched up on her toes so she could kiss his brow. "Call me in the morning? Hopefully things will have settled down by then. Or if not we can go from there." _

_ He nodded. "Yeah, will do. You be safe walking home, alright?" _

_ She threw him a glance over her shoulder as she started to cross the street. "I will!" _

_ "Vsegda pozhaluysta! _(you're welcome)_" he called after her. _

_ The glittering smile in her eyes was the last thing he remembered ever seeing from her. It was a look that he had held onto all this time, refusing to let it go, and refusing to forget the jade green hue of her eyes, the scent of her skin, a heady blend that smelled like vodka and lavender, and the feel of her silky pale hair brushing against his skin._

_ The next morning he'd awoken to a racket going on in his apartment building. People throwing things and the slamming of doors, the TVs turned up loud, car alarms blasting and voices shouting. He'd staggered to the window and seen with horror that people were running like bats out of hell every which way, some in pursuit and some fleeing. There were bloodstains streaking the vehicles, police were scattered everywhere, shattered glass thrown like confetti all over the streets. _

_ He'd yanked his clothes on and stuffed everything he thought he might need into his duffle bag, including all of his school textbooks and thrown it over his shoulder before grabbing his cell phone, thanking God there was still service. First he tried his parents, both rolled straight to voicemail. He left messages for both of them, saying he was headed for the cabin and that he'd call when he got there. The next was to Ivy. The phone rang and rang and rang before finally going to voicemail. He left a message saying he was headed to her place to come get her. No way in hell was he going to leave her behind, not in this mess. Not when she'd been right and he should have listened to her and left last night together. _

_ He was fortunate to live in a building with secured parking. He flung his duffle bag into the backseat of his car and cranked up the engine. The radio played a frantic broadcast, urging people to stay indoors, secure their homes, and not answer the door for anybody for any reason, and to stay tuned into the radio and news stations for further updates. He switched it off and blew through the security gate of his building. _

_ New York traffic, as always, was hell, but thanks to Ivy's job as a cab driver, he'd learned the best ways to get around most of the heavier flows, and within fifteen minutes he was pulling up to the curb outside her building. She roomed with three other people in a loft space in a grungy building with graffiti sprayed over every inch of the concrete. He locked his door and climbed out, running up the stairs, bypassing all the people that were in his way. Russian words floated past him as he ran down the hall to Ivy's door. He banged on the cheap door with his fist, calling out her name, but no one answered. He finally mustered up all his strength and after three or four tries, managed to kick in the door. What he saw was his first real taste of the horror he would be a party to for the rest of his days. _

_ Bodies were laid out all over the floor, blood gushing from massive head wounds. All their skulls were smashed open, brains oozing out onto the concrete staining the material blackish red. There were three in total and as he wandered into the room, numb with terrible shock, he saw that they didn't just have wounds to the head. There was trauma all over them, facial lacerations, twisted limbs, broken bones that just should not bend the way they were. The smell of rotting flesh was overwhelming as he inhaled but that wasn't what had him puking all over the floor. It was that when he looked down again at the bodies he recognized them all. They all were Ivy's roommates. _

_ There were obvious signs of struggle. The apartment was torn to shreds, furniture broken up, glass smashed, dents and other indentations in the walls. The TV was shattered as though someone had kicked it in. One of the wooden chairs from the kitchen table was overturned and missing a leg, the jagged splinters of the stump that remained achingly sharp. It was then that Benjamin noticed that one of the bodies near the chair had a ragged stab wound through the top of the skull. Likely made by the chair leg, which was notably missing. Had Ivy done this? If she had…why? His stomach rolled and he tried not to retch again. _

_ He searched the apartment and found nothing of use, but something comforted him. Some of Ivy's belongings were gone. It must have meant she'd taken them with her…that she'd made it out of here alive. He fumbled for his phone and frantically called her again. _

_ "Ivy, please pick up! Where are you, you were right, we gotta get out of here!" His message was cut off when he heard horrible growling coming up behind him. He turned and through the loft door that he'd left open he saw Ivy's landlady, a harmless old woman with a head of silver hair and deep set eyes and swollen, arthritic fingers from working well into retirement age, staring at him. Her skin was ashen and her head was tipped to the side, like her neck had no strength to hold up her skull. She wore a bloodstained nightgown and nothing else. Her bare feet were streaked with cuts and there was dirt and filth all the way up to her ankles. She growled and shuffled towards Benjamin, arms outstretched, teeth gnashing. _

_ "Mrs. Barkov?" Benjamin asked. He was shaking so badly that he could hardly get the old woman's name out. _

_ She staggered towards him, making a strangled hissing shriek as she did so. He'd tried to dart around her but she'd been surprisingly fast for the stiff way that she moved. She grabbed him, tearing at his clothes, trying to hold him down and bite him. He'd cried out with high-pitched terror as he grappled with her, trying to keep her slavering mouth away from him. He managed to fight her off and shove her away where she tripped over one of the other bodies and crashed to the floor. Before she could get up he was racing out the door, back down to his car and then into the street, darting around vehicles that had stalled out or crashed. Everywhere he turned there was pandemonium. People running around like ants without a trail back to the anthill, some of them even trying to swarm his car, smearing the glass of his windows with filth and blood. He punched the gas and swung around obstacles as best he could while he fumbled for his phone. Even as he did so a report came on the radio saying that the National Guard was in route to lock down the city. Nobody getting in or out. His heart slammed against his breast bone like it was trying to burst out of his chest and spatter into the windshield. He finally managed to hit redial and put the phone to his ear. _

_ "I swear to God, Ivy, pick up the phone! They're gonna lock down the city! We gotta go now! Ivy please, call me!" _

_But he had no word from her. Nothing. Only the screaming silence and desperation the likes of which he had never felt before or since. He'd raced away from the city, flooring it as hard as he could, using the back roads his parents had forced him to drive over and over until he memorized it, using the best possible way to escape the city. He made it out just before the army trucks rolled in, and that's when he'd hit the traffic jam of the rest of the other lucky individuals who had made it out of the city alive. He'd kept driving without looking back until he was good and clear of any kind of civilization before pulling over on the highway and trying his parents again. Still nothing. Then one more time he tried Ivy. _

_ "Ivy I made it out of the city. If you did too call me and I'll come get you. Hell, even if you didn't, call me. Stay safe. Ya lyublyu tebya. _(I love you)_" He hung up the phone and stuffed it in his pocket and tried to refuse his tears as he followed the winding road and searched for the well hidden path that led to his parents' cabin. That horrible day had been nothing but a terrifying blur, a memory he had tried to just let go of because it hurt too much. He hadn't spoken Russian since that night and by now he'd forgotten most of it. But try as he might, he couldn't let go of her, and the way he had ignored her good advice. It would always haunt him. He'd never get the chance to see her again, and he knew he wasn't the only one who had lost everything, but he hadn't ever had that much to start with. Sure his family had money, but money didn't talk back to him when he needed a sounding board, and money could never fill the empty spaces of his apartment night after night. That green paper couldn't fill the void in his life. Nothing had ever filled the void as well as she did. His new adopted family had gone a long way to soothing those hurts, but he'd never spoken of her. He saw no reason to twist and rip at the scar tissue, not even over whiskey when the kiddies had gone to bed and it was just the adults sitting round lighted candles and playing cards so as they gave their confessions they wouldn't have to look too hard at each other. _

_When he'd looked up and seen those pale green eyes, that ivory skin, the silver glow of her hair and her that roughly accented voice, he'd known it was her. He hadn't even needed to see her tattoo to know it. He'd know her anywhere. He'd dare to call her the only woman he'd ever really loved, but even that was a twisted convoluted mess of feelings he didn't have the time to deal with now. Right now, in this second, Glenn was dying, and he was the only one who could do something. She offered to help, not quite believing it was him, but he saw that wary gleam in her eye slowly opening up into a flood of revelation. They'd hash it all out later. But right now he had to help Glenn. _

_ Deep down in a basement turned survival bunker he tried his best to relieve the pain and help Glenn breathe but he knew the clock was ticking. His family frantically surrounded him, about to tear themselves to pieces with fretting. He finally looked up and stared them all in the eyes. "I can't do anything unless I have the tools. And we're running out of time." _

_ He looked up into the worried, exhausted, pain stricken faces of his family, but despite all of that stress he saw determination. An unrelenting drive to not give up until the very last breath had been spent and the last of their blood spilt. He was not at all surprised when Fox volunteered to go for the medical supplies they needed, located in a hospital about ten miles from where they were hiding. Ivy offered to take them there; her eyes met his and he saw more of that revelation, that resolve that she help him, because it just might be who she hoped it was. He didn't hold it against her for not recognizing or believing it was him just yet. She had obviously been through hell to still be standing here. He could see it in the silver of her hair, the lines of stress around her eyes and mouth, the way she flinched and twitched like an abused animal at the slightest movement in her direction. Not to mention the fingers and piece of her hand she was missing- he had to wonder what that was all about. He would help her remember who he was when all that could be done for Glenn was accomplished. _

_ Rick and Michonne also offered to go. Carl protested his father's choice, as Daryl protested Fox's, but neither runner would yield. There were tense, emotion laced words passed between the pairs but in the end the four of them had vanished into the night like ghosts, and all Benjamin could do was pray they came back soon. _

_ "Maggie. If they don't come back within about two hours…I can't…there's nothing I can do." _

_ She wouldn't look at him at first but when she did there was fire in her eyes. "You have to," she growled. _

_ He shook his head sadly. "If they don't come back soon, he'll be too weak. He won't have the strength to endure the surgery- his heart will give out, and I cannot ethically or morally put him through so much pain when there is no way he'll survive. If it comes to that…we will end it painlessly." _

_ She looked at him full in the face and all of her grief, all her pain, all her wishful thinking, the full breadth of the crushing weight of her emotions was there for him to see, and it only made the next two hours an even more agonizing wait. _

* * *

_He can still hear the monsters that have stalked his dreams for years, hissing right around the corner, momentarily unaware of their presence, but not for long. The gun in his hand was a warm, familiar weight but the warmth didn't get past his calloused, blood slicked palm. He holstered it for a moment and turned to the scarred woman who was crouched right next to him, watching over his shoulder around the corner._

_ "I'll go for broke. Run interference and give you time to get out. I'll double back and meet you down in the ambulance bay where we stashed the vehicles." _

_ Fox's fingers bit down into his wrist, her eyes blazing. "No, Rick! We all go together!" _

_ He shook his head. "Not this time, Fox. This time I need you to go. I need you to make sure that all these supplies get back to Benjamin. That's what this was for. If we fail, it have all been for naught, and there's no need for more than one of us to…" _

_ She almost slapped him, but refusing to make that much noise she twisted her fingers into his hair and pulled. "I'm not gonna let you go out there and get ripped to pieces! Carl needs you! Judith needs you! Daryl needs you! I need you!" _

_ She could see the stress and the responsibility threatening to break him, etching lines across his face and tightening the muscles of his jaw. "I promised Daryl I'd get you back safe. I tried to do my best for Carl…he'll watch over Judith. You all helped me take care of both of them when I couldn't do it myself. And I will always be grateful for that." _

_ She unfolded her fingers and pulled his head down so their foreheads touched. He wasn't positive, but he thought maybe both of them were shaking. "Rick, you can't do this. We need you." Her voice was as shaken and as broken as he had ever heard her, and it wrangled something in him to hear her breaking down. _

_ He looked up at her and the weight of everything he could never say was in his eyes. The aching loneliness he'd had to endure since Lori's death, his struggle to raise Carl and Judith without their mother, all of the guilt from his previous decisions, the daily struggle of his conflicted feelings where she was concerned. Since the first day he'd known her she had pushed him to every emotional limit that he'd ever had, dragging him kicking and screaming through every spectrum humans were capable of feeling, including a broken, twisted, foggy love which he would never shackle her with because it wasn't right. She belonged to Daryl, and she always had. He understood, he accepted it, he believed that it was as it should be, but all the logic in the world did not quell the ache, the emptiness, and the pain. In turn she had accepted him and all of those broken bones, crookedly healed, shuffling and scraping feelings, and hadn't judged him. Hadn't held it against him. She had allowed him into her life, into a special niche in her heart that nobody else occupied- not even Daryl. And for all the pain, all the aggravation, the fear, the stress, the confusion, he would forever be grateful to have known her. _

_ "Do one thing for me," he murmured, looking up at her now, clearing his eyes of the cloudiness of most of his feelings. He had to master himself or they would never make it out alive. When she met his eyes and nodded his lips twitched and his heart beat fast. _

_ "Tell me your name." _

_ He swore he saw a tear slide down her cheek. She pressed her forehead against his again, her fingers slinking down to the nape of his neck and holding him to her before pulling him up to his feet. She wrapped him in her arms, pressing her cheek against his and whispered her name in his ear. He almost shuddered when he heard the soft murmur. He couldn't stop the way his arms encircled her and clutched her close, pulling her flush against him, letting his face bury into her neck, inhaling the smell of her hair and skin. If he had to die, it was as good as any memory to bring with him into battle. And even when he let her go, he could still feel the searing scorch of her body heat against him, and it chased away the cold clasp of death that began to hunt him as he rounded the corner into the room full of the walking dead. _

* * *

_ The moment he hears them come back his heart floods with relief. The basement door shudders and then is pulled open. Michonne and the mysterious woman who Benjamin says is Ivy Sokolv, a very old friend of his, come in first, carrying heavy duffels of supplies. Immediately Maggie and Benjamin are on their feet, Carl too, all of them hurrying forward to unpack everything and arrange it so Benjamin can go to work. Daryl doesn't wait. He takes the basement stairs two at a time and emerges into the cool night air, searching frantically for the other half of the runner party._

_ When he sees her it's not like the other times. She's gone without him on runs before many times but whenever she comes back, she always stands and lets him watch her for a minute, toying with him a little, looking as tough and as bad ass as she can, just teasing him because she likes to play games. She'd hold that separation for just a little before he'd take the lead and break it and come to her, pulling her in possessively, the rumble of a growl in his throat not to stand so precariously on her pedestal because one day she'll fall off. She never has before, and she's never shown a slip of confidence before. Not until now. _

_ Now when she sees him, she doesn't wait. She literally runs across the lawn and flings herself into his arms, forcing him to drop his crossbow to the grass. He catches her in a flying curtain of hair, clothing, and limbs as she clutches him with everything she's got. She's shaking and shivering in his arms and now he can hear her whispering desperately against his neck. He catches the sound of his name and the word 'please' over and over again and at this he pulls back a little so he can look into her eyes. He's never heard her talk like this. He's heard her beg him for things before, for him to distract her from pain and fear she can't cope with on her own, but those tones are always harsh and demanding, anger covering up terror. This is different. There is fear all over her. She even smells like it, her normal scent of spice and the close quartered air of the woods at midnight is gone, replaced with the bitter tang of panic and misery. _

_ "Easy, Dahlia, easy. Breathe." He murmurs in her ear, letting his warm breath ghost over her skin as his hands slide up her back and over her shoulders and anchor her to his chest. She shakes and shudders against him and he swears he can hear her softly sobbing. "I have you," he whispers. _

_ It takes a long time before she settles back into her skin. When she finally stops shaking she pulls back and wipes at her eyes, trying so hard to shove down all her fear and slip back into the skin that she shows the whole world, the one who's never afraid, the one who doesn't care what she looks like to anybody else, the one that will do anything she has to do in order to protect the ones she loves. "I'm sorry," she breathes against his neck. "It was very close. It's never been that close. Never." _

_ "Where's Rick?" he asks as she slowly untangles herself. _

_ She takes a long breath in. "He's in the truck. He's pretty shaken up. He needs you." _

_ He blinks in acknowledgement and then looks down at her. "You sure you're ok?" he questions. _

_ She lets out a shaky laugh and shakes her head. "I don't want to talk about it. I can't." _

_ He doesn't respond at first. It's not uncommon for Fox to not say something about what's bothering her until the crisis has passed. It's only in that still quiet when she'll break down. He prepares himself to be ready for it as she walks past him and down into the basement with the others. Daryl turns to the truck and finds Rick sitting in the back of the tailgate, his legs hanging off the back, his python in his hand. He's spattered in gore so thick that its cracking like dried paint on his skin. Besides the blood he looks like hell. His skin is pale, there's a quiver in his hand that holds the gun, and his eyes hold a vacant, terribly withdrawn look. Daryl hasn't seen him look like this since Lori died, and it scares him but he doesn't let it show. He's far too practiced at keeping all of that locked away. He thinks for once it'll benefit Rick. Rick doesn't need any more emotion thrown on him if the fragility in his eyes is any way to judge. _

_ "You alright?" Daryl asks. It's not really for an answer, it's obvious the man is walking a thin line between reality and losing it- it's really just to get Rick to speak. When Rick doesn't answer and just stares off into space for a while Daryl hops up into the tail bed of the truck and reaches into his saddlebag and pulls out the bottle of whiskey he stashed there. He's had it there for weeks, way before they took off like bats out of hell from home and until now he'd forgotten it was there but now he's glad for it. He pulls it out and unscrews the cap and holds it out to Rick. _

_ "I don't need that." Rick's voice is a growl and he pushes the bottle in Daryl's hand away. _

_ "It'll loosen your jaw. Whatever happened you need to say something. Fox ain't talkin' and both of you can't stone wall this. And you can handle this better than she can." It's no secret that anything Fox does, she does in excess, and whiskey is one of her favorite vices when the day has been bad. He doesn't intend to let her know he has the bottle stashed away or else it'll probably be gone by tomorrow morning. _

_ Rick yields and takes a long pull from the bottle. He shudders as the alcohol kicks its way down his throat and into his gut. Almost immediately his head swims and he hands the bottle back to Daryl who drinks after him and then caps it. He'll open it up again if he has too, but when Rick starts to speak he doesn't think he'll need it. _

_ "It's never been that close before. I thought for sure I wasn't coming back. I didn't think I'd ever see anybody ever again…I thought they were going to tear me to pieces. It was just like that first summer…I felt like I didn't even know how to aim the gun except at my own head." Daryl watched him fumble with the weapon, checking the rounds, and indeed there was only one left. "I was ready…just like in the tank. I had the gun against my head…and then she comes out of nowhere. Just comes down like lightening and I thought for sure I was already dead because everything felt numb and loose for once." _

_ He stared at Daryl and the hunter watched him carefully. He sensed a little bit of an unraveling in his friend but he'd be there to scoop up the pieces and set them to right again. It was never a conscious choice or understanding, he just did what he thought was right to the best that he could. _

_ "She pulled me out and when we made it back outside, Michonne and Ivy came back for us. We'd of both died down there if they hadn't. I'd given them the keys and the supplies, thinking Fox would stay with them and she'd make sure that they came back here. Shoulda known better but it didn't matter. They came back for us. Helped us get out." _

_ Daryl unscrewed the cap and took another hit off the whiskey. "Yeah, you shoulda known better. Fox doesn't do anything unless she was gonna do it herself originally." _

_ Rick stared up at him and Daryl offered him the bottle. He took down a healthy swallow and then gave it back to Daryl who capped it. "She told me her name." _

_ "Why?" He wasn't angry or possessive or jealous. It was just strange. Fox had made it fairly clear to him many years ago that she intended to take that secret to her grave, the only ones who would know her name being himself and Luna._

_ Rick ducked his head for a minute, staring down at the barrel of his gun for a long while before he looked back up and answered. "I didn't think I was going to come back. So before I left, I asked her to." _

_ Daryl was quiet for a while but in the end he stashed the whiskey back into his saddlebag and then hopped off the tail-bed and looked at Rick knowingly. It was the man's choice if he wanted to stay or go but he was offering him that choice as merely a man looking at his friend. Not a soldier looking at his leader with obligation in his eyes. Rick had to be willing, otherwise it would all be for naught. _

_ Rick slid off the tail bed and followed Daryl into the basement. It was hard to move his feet at first but when he came downstairs and he saw Carl he couldn't help but smile. He went right over to his son and hugged him tight, grateful for every moment they'd ever had, grateful he had a family that would hold him together until he was ready to face his son with his head screwed on the right way. It had taken more out of him this time to get back to that point, and even though his son was grown now, everything had been worth it embrace him again. It reminded him of how much he wanted the same moment with Judith and his resolve began to run even deeper than before._

* * *

_ There was a lot of things that she could swallow without trouble, but watching Benjamin hack into Glenn like a mad scientist was more than she could take. The reek of blood and bile was overwhelming down in the basement. The medic was working almost frantically, Ivy at his shoulder helping him as he needed it. She feels wrong but she flees the basement and runs into the cool night air, her skin feeling feverish. Her gut squirms and heaves and she staggers away into the weeds and she retches hard, very little of anything coming up as she coughs and shudders, one hand catching herself on the side of the house. It just reminds her how long its been since they ate. _

_ She knew he was following her but she didn't expect the cool rag he must have soaked in the water they took from the river against her neck. It felt wonderful against her overheated skin and helped to soothe the headache starting to pound in her temples. _

_ "You alright?" his gravel rough voice asks. _

_ She shudders again, still feeling weak through her entire body. She shuts her eyes to try and block out the horror but it all just comes rushing back. She forces herself to stand up and open her eyes even though she feels like heaving again and she looks at the man who she's loved for so long and he sees the concern for her in his face. She doesn't have the heart to lie to him and say that she's fine, but she doesn't want to worry him either. So she ducks the question. _

_ "I could use a drink." She could smell the whiskey he'd gotten into even from here and she's jealous. _

_He shakes his head. "You're already puking, you haven't eaten, you haven't slept, and you've barely had any water. It'll just make you sicker." _

_ "Oh you'd know all about that wouldn't you," she snaps. She's ashamed that she was so vulnerable in front of him, that she hadn't been able to get it together before he saw her like this, and for back when they'd first returned. She turns to walk away from him, stalking towards the truck and his bike where she knows he must have stashed the liquor but before she gets more than a pace or two he grabs her by the wrist and spins her around. _

_ "Don't do this Dahlia. Not now." _

_She glares at him and wants to fight him. She wants to pry his fingers off her wrist and tell him that if she wants to drink until she pukes blood she will and there ain't a damn thing he can do to stop her. She wants to tell him that sometimes a person just fucking needs to numb it out and let it mellow until the morning. But she sees the look in him. He's not going to let go. Even if she kicks and screams and hollers and calls him every name she can think of. It reminds her of a conversation she had with him so many years ago that it's almost like a dream. On the porch of the Greene plantation house, his demand that she loosen her pride and open herself to the idea of trusting the group, because otherwise she'll never be apart of them and eventually she'd be ditched on the side of the road. He'd held her just like this too even as she'd spat insults and curses at him, hateful and stinging like a viper. He'd held onto her and then she hadn't had a clue as to why, but now she knew. _

_ The wave of knowledge and understanding washing over her almost made her want to cry all over again. This is why she tried to never let it in, because it was just too much to take. On the good days it was easy, wonderful, just like breathing to feel how much he cared for her. But on the bad days it hurt. It hurt in the best possible way, because it was just proof that she was worth everything to him, scars and stinging jabs and all and she knew she didn't deserve it but he was still here.  
"I just don't know how to handle it. I can't go back to living like this! Like I'm going to lose you and everyone I love every single day!" _

_ His grip on her wrist softens and he pulls her close. He slides his hands up and cups her face. "Dixons got a long history of looking into the bottom of a whiskey bottle for answers to that question. Ain't got us nothin' but scars and jail time." His thumb traces her jaw bone and when she tries to pull away he holds her firmly and tips her head up so she's looking him in the eye again. "Listen to me. We are going to make it, ok? As a family we will make it. All of us. And when we get to Atlanta we'll bring Luna and Judith home. I swear to God." _

_ She lets out a breath. "You don't even believe in God." She traces her hand down her shoulder blades to the tattoos of the demons on his shoulder and looks up at him. _

_ "You believe in the phoenix." He puts his hand on her sternum and presses down firmly where he knew her tattoo lay. The fingers on his other hand slip down her body down to the left side of her ribcage and he traces exactly where the two lines of ink lay. "Ever we die, ever we rise." _

_ She sways with him. She doesn't know how or why or in what way she ever came to deserve the man against her. All she can feel is grateful because if he wasn't here and all else remained equal she would have fallen apart long ago. She's amazed at how day in and day out of this insanity he holds her together. _

_ They eventually go back into the basement and do their best to help Benjamin any way they can, but like most things under the realm of his expertise, they are mostly better off staying out of the way. It feels like a year passes and finally Benjamin peels himself back from where he's been hunched over the table he's been leaning over that Glenn is laying on. Glenn's on his back, tube down his throat, the portable ventilator they'd gone to hell and back to get resting near his arm, breathing for him. There's a massive scar on his chest from Benjamin's incision and they all know that if Glenn survives this it'll be permanent. _

_ She watches Benjy transfuse him with blood taken from their family members. Everyone who can gives a little and finally the medic pulls his gloves off and leans against the wall. "That's it," he breathes. "I can do no more." He pushes his hair out of his face and stares up at them with fatigued eyes and hands that quiver in exhaustion. He tells them that either Glenn will or won't wake up and it's between him and God now. _

_ Fox can see he's almost ready to collapse. She's surprised when Ivy slinks forward and nudges him towards the bed she's made for herself in the far corner of the basement. He follows willingly and Fox can hear her murmuring words that are not English. As he sinks down onto her bed he responds in kind as his eyes close. Ivy slowly comes back towards the light where the rest of the group is gathered. _

_ Maggie sits vigil with Glenn while the rest of them catch a few hours of sleep, but even eventually she gives into unconsciousness. She's slumped in the chair she'd been using to sit next to the table Glenn is on and Fox knows that when she wakes she'll have a helluva stiff neck. Fox's internal clock tells her its close to dawn but she doesn't bother going up the stairs to check. She watches Glenn, and at first when she seems him twitch she thinks the worst. That he died during the night and now he's come back. Her fingers twist around the handle of her blade, ready to end it quickly and silently before the group can panic. _

_ But then his eyes open and they are only cloudy with confusion and pain, not death. She heaves a sigh of relief and slips towards him, her fingers finding his hand. He tries to speak but she shushes him, the tube still down his throat. "Were here. All of us," she murmurs. _

_ She can see what he's saying with his eyes. When he turns just slightly so he can see Maggie she feels his gratitude washing over her like a wave of release. After all these years, she's paid down a debt that had been like a splinter in her mind. He squeezes her hand back and she nods with understanding. She slips around the side of the table and gently shakes Maggie's shoulder. She starts, her hand going to her hip where her knife is holstered, but then she realizes what's happening, and then sees Glenn's eyes opened. _

_ Fox leaves them in peace, in hushed, tearful rejoicing, allowing them as much privacy as she can. She settles down next to Daryl who is still asleep but is aware that someone else is also awake. Ivy is watching her closely. _

_ "You were ready to die to help him," she says, her voice hoarse and thick. "And for your leader too." _

_ Fox nods tiredly. "We have been together many years. I would die for any of them." _

_ "There is only one I would die for." She glances to where Benjamin is asleep on her bed and there's something in her eyes but Fox's is too tired to know exactly what it is. "He is who I knew Before. I did not believe it at first, but there is no doubt now." _

_ "Then stay," Fox breathes. She is too tired to continue now. She leans against Daryl and he unconsciously lifts his arm a little so she can bury herself into his side. _

_ "Everything ok?" His voice is slow with the drawl of sleep. _

_ She nods. "Glenn's awake." She says this through a yawn and before he can respond she's asleep against him and he's content to stay still awhile longer. They'd need all the rest they could get for what lay ahead. _

* * *

Everything hurts. Their muscles, their flesh, their bones, their skin, their lungs, everything. Everything just hurts more than they know how to deal with. But deal they do because they have no choice. They have no choice but to endure. In the end they all slowly realize they don't have to know how they'll survive the day, it's just enough that as a family, they know they will.

* * *

**FanFicGirl10**: _Ok Luna is really starting to annoy me (I love her but still). I mean seriously all she wants to do is boss everyone around, she never thinks things through (Something she needs to work on because that will get you killed or worse) and doesn't want to listed to others (Case in point why her and Judith got kidnapped in the first place) And now that Judith has a plan she doesn't want to do it! Well hello she better start listening to Judith because that might be the only way to save each other. Anyways good chapter, Update Soon!_

Heh, I understand about Luna. She's a tough pill to swallow. Kinda like her mother, huh? (That is deliberate xD) But she is capable of change, and not being so stubborn, case in point when she finally caves to Judith. Like both her parents, it takes a lot for her to unbend her pride and to be willing to do whatever it is she has to do in order to survive and in this case, escape. Her mother and father both are incredibly stubborn, so you could say she gets it honestly. Judith will get through to her though, as she did by the end of the chapter, because Luna won't go so far as to put her sister in danger.

**Brittney**: _I like the girls' plan! I can't wait to see if it works out. Luna isn't very happy about playing nice with the other people there but if she wants to get out of there she'll have to try. Can't wait for the next update!_

Hah, indeed, she's gonna have to learn how to get along as it were. She hates the idea but she doesn't have much choice. Judith understands well the concept if you can't beat 'em join 'em…

**Emberka-2012**: _At this establishment not only Mal serves as a good pet. All the others are no better, they think that they are doing something worthwhile. However, some of them die. Interestingly, they do not fear that may become the next victim of accident? Except that some kind of emotion slipped from Tau and Leland. Well, let's see how Luna and Judith will play in spies._

Mal's definitely Jenner's pet. He tries to tell himself he's not, but really he is. Kind of how like Merle worked for the Governor in the show. The others follow his lead because he's strong enough to command them as it were. They are afraid of being the victim of Jenner's meddling or Walkers but they don't say so, because they don't think there's anything they can do about it. But they definitely do worry.

**lunasky99**: _Wow it must have taken alot of her willpower to not punch Mal in the face until it couldn't be called a face anymore... well maybe not that much but until he had his fair share of hurt. I'm so happy Luna and Judith are back together again!. Haha can't wait for the fight -if there is going to be a fight, which is very likely- between Luna and Raoul I bet she's going to put him right in his place, and hopefully she doesn't get in to much trouble for doing it. Good plan Judith, good plan, hopefully Luna can succeed and not let her temper get the better of her... except for the Rauol/Luna fight because I really want to read about how she kicks his ass and makes him cry like a baby when she's like two times smaller then him. xD P.S Please don't kill Glenn I'm begging you and I don't beg!_

Hehe, Luna is just itching to take out her anger and frustration on anybody who makes themselves a target, and whether that's Mal or Raoul or anybody else she doesn't really care. There's gonna be some throwin' down for sure, and oh it'll be so much fun xD Luna's gonna have a helluva time tamping down her temper when she deals with Mal, but she'll make an effort, because she understand Judith's reasoning that they have to approach escaping from a different angle now. And as for Glenn's fate…well, now you know it since I put the replies at the end ;)

**RedneckBunny**: _The one thing I can't stand about your stories is the wait! Atleast with Wildflower, I'd found it after it was done so I could read straight through! But we readers can't force you to write faster, it would damage the story. Ugh... waiting._

I know! And I feel so awful for making you guys wait so long, I've just been so busy with school and work lately that it's sucking up my life. And also because I refuse to put out anything less than my best, so if I have to fight with the chapter until I'm happy then that's just what it's gotta be xD

**Jerrie Higarashi**: _Loving this chapter. Hmmm, I am Totally Shipping Luna and Mal. YOU HAVE TO GET THEM TOGETHER! I am really liking Tau. Man this story is just getting better and better. PLEZ UPDATE SOON. PLEZ. Don't worry. I'm not going anywhere. I may be late however but don't worry when I have the time. I will always review. :) now, enough talking, more updating. PLEZ._

Heh, Luna and Mal ship huh? They're both looking at you going 'no way in fucking hell' but we'll just have to see what happens hm? Hah, I'm so glad you guys are taking to my OCs I was worried about that when I was writing this.


	14. Chapter 14

_**Ok guys, if you want to go ahead and kill me for taking so long, go right ahead, I won't stop you. I will say, in my defense, my schedule at work just went crazy AND I'm taking probably my hardest classes of my entire undergrad career. But I have not, nor will not, give up on this story. I promise. **_

He knows she won't be happy to see him. She never is. That's alright with him, he understands her frustration. It doesn't mean that its any easier to deal with, but he does understand why she's always so angry. He'd give almost anything to see some other side of her, though he has to admit, her anger gives her a presence like nothing he's ever seen, and he's seen a lot. Between the intensity of Jenner's mood swings and the tumultuous group of kids he has taken charge of, Mal's seen quite a lot by way of different types of people. But he's never seen someone like Luna. She moves with fearlessness and a challenge to the world that is so much more than a chip on her shoulder. It's not a chip, really, and that's what drives him crazy in the best way. It's not a slight- it's who she is. She is a firebrand, a hurricane, a force of nature that cannot be chained down or constrained. She is everything that this place hates, and it's not that she's not smart enough to keep her head down and her mouth shut. It's that she won't be bent like that; at least to a point.

The past few days she has been more contained, for lack of a better word. All of that restless, stormy energy is still there, but she seems to have somehow found a harness for it. She muzzles most of her retorts now and contents herself with digging her fingernails into her palms as she puts up with jibe after jibe and order after order. It is both fascinating and heart wrenching to watch her do what she's told. Fascinating because it plays out so clearly on her face, and to watch her emotions swing through anger, defiance, and scorning contempt before finally knuckling down and grinding her bones to do what she's told. Heart wrenching because someone like her should not be caged like this. He knows it, and though he doesn't let it show, he feels a stinging guilt every time she fixes him with that look that says she hates him because he's tormenting her. He's feeding her crow and if she had half a chance she'd probably strangle him. But he's coming to her now to try and make it up to her.

He knows where to find her. When she's not running messages (the job that he gave her, because it will keep her moving and, for the most part, out of trouble) she's usually upstairs in an empty storage room but its appeal is that almost no one goes up there and there are large windows that offer a wide spread view of the surrounding area. He's noticed she likes to be as close to the sun and fresh air as she can. She hasn't been outside since having returned with her sister and Leland that first night.

He slips into the room quietly, the door refusing to lock because it's broken, and he knows that she can't hear him, and he does take advantage of this. He very slowly picks his way through the dusty, tumbled over chairs and other pieces of furniture, boxes of useless reams of paper, old broken down computers and other electronics that had no use anymore. It's a veritable time capsule of the world Before. But he knows he won't find her amongst the wreckage of a life that has been dead for almost two decades.

He finds her exactly where he knew she'd be, on the window seat, one leg stretched out towards the floor hanging off the seat, the other raised up towards her chest. Her back was against the wall, her head turned and staring out the window. Her mahogany hair was highlighted with cinnamon and gold streaks in the setting Georgia sun that was blazing through the glass. The light also turned her skin to glowing amber; a halo seemed to shine around her, but he knew it wasn't from the sun. It was because even caged as she was, she still had all the firebrand of a solar flare. It was something about the way that even when she was relaxed, she was powerful. She owned the confidence he only leased from others and the borrowed permission of the gun on his thigh. He was as envious as intrigued by her, and it roiled the normally sleek, unfettered calm within him.

When she turned towards him, she did not spring to her feet, tense, or start. Her eyes literally glowed like sapphire jewels in the sunlight, darkened slightly by her silhouette. There was a hardness to her just like the precious gem color of her eyes, an unyielding strength that circled her eyes and seeped down deep into all her bones. She actually grinned at him, but it was not of happiness, more wildness and predatory.

"I saw you coming," she said, tapping the glass with her index finger, still looking at him.

He nodded and tipped his head to the side, still watching her. "May I?" he asked, indicating to the free spot on the window seat opposite her.

She shrugged and turned her head away. He took that as permission and he slid into the seat across from her. He turned and watched the world as well, and truly it was rather beautiful. The gold splashing across the front lawn of the CDC and shining off the fractured street that twisted and winded its way like the ambling of a river. The way the trees were so green that they contrasted like emeralds with the yellow flare of the sun that was turning the sky pink and orange. For once there had not been the usual five o clock storm and so as the sun set almost all the colors of the rainbow spilled across the sky. These windows would never open, they had no locks and were bulletproof, but he could imagine the coolness of the breeze that made the leaves sway and twitch. All was still except for their flickered movements.

"My family grew up with this," she said quietly. Her fingertips brushed the glass with a feather-light touch, and for an instant he saw the longing in her. As desperate and as yearning as a child's terrified cries yet without the sound. "Well, most of them did." She turned to him and fixed him with a steady look and for once she didn't look like she was trying to lay into him with a set of daggers. This was more questioning. "Where's your family?"

He shrugged. Of course she would know where to hit him. She was as perceptive as she was confident, and that was probably what really made her so dangerous. He never spoke about his family unless he was asked. But she had asked, and he had nothing to hide.

"I don't know," he answered honestly. "I never knew my blood family."

Her eyes went wide. "How could you not know?" Even though her voice was rough and hard to make out, he could hear the shock.

"Not long after the plague started, Jenner and Milton and some other adults came back and reclaimed this place. Jenner started his research and figured out that everyone that was still alive was infected regardless of being bitten or not. So he wanted to start working with the next generation, he thought maybe that it would help find a cure. But he had no subjects to work with, it was just adults in the CDC at the time. So when they got the radios fixed, they put out signals, telling people they had a safe place for refugees. But only for children. They didn't have the resources or space for adults, but they could take in the kids. So some parents brought their children to the CDC and gave them to Jenner and Milton. My mom was one of them. I was a week old when she gave me up."

Luna twitched and shuddered. "How?" she rasped. He didn't understand what she meant but she continued before he could ask. "How could parents abandon their kids? How…how could blood be so thin?" She actually looked on the verge of tears and it shocked him.

"You don't know how bad it was," he murmured softly. "People were being torn apart. Starving to death. Getting sick and dying slow, painful deaths. Having an infant in that kind of environment was an almost guaranteed death sentence." He fixed her with a look until she looked back at him, and for the first time he saw an openness to listen. It eased some of the hardness in her. "Many of us were not fortunate like you. You came from a close family, a tight group. Most of us didn't. Most of us came here willingly."

Now she hardened again. "That's not the impression I got," she growled, accusing him of lying with her eyes.

"Because you're rooming with Tau and Leland. The only other two who were taken off the streets by force and brought here. But that was a long time ago." He pressed his back against the wall but tipped his head forward. "You are more fortunate than you realize, Luna."

She shook her head at him. "No," she husked. "Because I have been here, I realize what I have lost." She put her hand up on her chest but clawed her fingers like she was holding something. "My chest hurts." She let her hand fall to her lap and refused to look at him.

He shifted towards her just slightly, which caused her head to whip around to watch him. He paused, not wanting to crowd her too much. Despite the fact that she had seemed to find a harness for the intensity of her energy, he knew it would really only go so far. She was still skittish, still unpredictable.

Still wild.

"It's not release, but I have something for you if you want it that might ease the pain."

She stared at him with vacant eyes for a moment. It was a strange expression from her, because she was always so ruthless and ready to strike at a moment's hesitation. The vacancy was quickly replaced with fire that threatened to consume him until even his bones were ash. She looked ready to pounce, and like she was just toying with the idea of tearing him to pieces, and when she answered, he couldn't deny the shiver that crawled up his spine. She looked ready to eat him alive…and for some reason he didn't think he'd mind all that much if she did. It'd be one of the only moments of honesty he'd had in his entire life.

"You are baiting me," she observed, flicking her tongue around her teeth. "And you wait until I'm desperate enough to say yes." She paused and a growl rumbled in her throat. He could see her hands shaking, her wrists quivering as she struggled to keep from striking at him. "You are cruel. Yet you offer something I want. I hate this game, but I'll play anyway. What do you have for me, Mal?"

"I'm going on a run tonight with some of the others from gen one. I'd like to take you and Judith with me when we go."

She must have seen the micro-twitch that ran through him when he spoke. Because her lips twisted into a smirk and now she leaned towards him a little, as though maybe she were going to try and bite him. A chuff of laughter grated in her throat before she answered. "You are breaking the rules. Nobody wants me or J to set foot outside."

"I may take who I wish on the runs. I have discretion," he told her. Being so close to her he could smell her scent, a heady blend of cinnamon and sand, like the driest parts of Georgia at dusk through the slipstream of a car going sixty. Her eyes burned like dark ice, a wolf shining through them even as her teeth clicked and her fingers tightened on the seat in front of her like claws.

"You think you have power," she hummed. "But you are only a scavenger. You steal the scraps of a real predator's kills, but you're just big enough to chase away all the other mongrels at your heels."

He snorted. "Insulting me won't get you anywhere, Luna."

She clicked her teeth and laughed again, a brighter sound this time of real amusement. "But you have not walked away. You need me. I talked to Tau earlier, you never go on runs at night, because the biters are everywhere and the artificial lights you bring to see attract them. You need me to scout for you. The real question is why you're going tonight at all."

His skin crawled and heat flushed through him again. God damn it all- she missed nothing. No one really questioned him the way she did. No one looked beneath the surface like she did. They all took him at his word, trusting in his authority, a shepherd for the sheep that he'd been given to look after. He had to find some way to save face, he couldn't just tell her it was on Jenner's orders, or she'd mock him and refuse to go. He only had one card left to play, and it sickened him, but Mal was nothing if not determined to maintain his power over her. If he didn't, she'd tear this place to pieces, and it would be his neck to pay for it.

"Normally we would go on the run tomorrow during the day, but there's an event going on tomorrow and we need to be well rested for it. An event in which you will take part. And I have a feeling you're gonna like it." His lips twitched into a smirk and he watched the way the planes of her face morphed from amused contempt to curiosity.

"This is the chance Simon mentioned, isn't it?" she asked. Her eyes were hungry, the muscles in her arms twitched. Her whole being seemed to come alive, the wolf inside her stretching and shaking snow off its pelt before setting out to run through the wilds of the night. It was exotic and intoxicating and Mal had to wonder what it was like to be that confident, that powerful, that sure of your own self you had no fear in confronting an opponent like Raoul.

Maybe she just didn't have any sense. Maybe she was over confident- maybe she'd never actually been in a fight and she had no idea how hard it was going to actually be. Isolated as she had been he could imagine that scenario occurring.

"Indeed. Tomorrow night, everyone, including the adults, will go down into the basement, into the cage. It's not purely a blood sport, Jenner uses the encounters in his experiments. I disapprove…but he feels its necessary. He had a little break through just before you came here, and now he wants to repeat the test."

Luna's eyes flashed. "And satisfy the restless rage of everyone else." She watched him beneath the curtain of her hair, the shadows on her eyes darkening marginally as the last rays of the sun began to die. "No one was meant to live like this. Trapped in a steel box. Eventually even he won't be able to contain us."

Mal tipped his head to the side, surveying her, doing his best to take it all in. "You over-estimate the group, I think. No one has ever tried to escape before you and Judith. Not even Tau and Leland."

Luna flexed her fingers and watched him closely. "You all have traded freedom for safety. It is sad. You have a large group here, you could make something of yourselves. Reclaim a piece of what was Before you were ruled by an insane tyrant in hopes for a cure to a plague that has already finished wrecking its devastation. You have given everything away for locked doors and barred windows. All of which you have here you could build for yourselves out there."

Mal found himself smiling a little. He suddenly felt compelled to touch her, to tuck her hair behind her ear so he could see her face fully- see and feel the depth of those blue eyes pressing into him. He held back though, because despite their conversation, he knew what she really was.

Wild.

"You will die young, Luna," he murmured. "But before that happens, come and help us, if only because it will help you too." He slid off the seat and turned towards her, waiting for her to follow him, but it was not like before. He was giving her a choice this time.

She paused and for a moment and stared hard at him. "I may die young, but I will not die having lived my whole life as a liar."

She rose up to her feet and followed him. He didn't know what to make of her remark. All he knew was the way it made him feel, like a slap to the face, a shot of homemade alcohol that was a lot more like lit gasoline than liquor, and despite the way that it hurt, a stinging burn that reaches from his throat down deep into his bones, it made him feel more alive than he had in months. So alive that he couldn't even be irritated at her for it. Only desperate for more.

* * *

"One more time. Out the door, through the Gauntlet, down into the tunnels. Then we use the usual route to the chemical plant. Once we're there, we split to find our supplies, then meet back up at the back door. With any luck we should be in and out in under three hours and no worse for wear."

Luna watched Leland's expression as he went over their plan for the final time in the lobby of the CDC. He was nervously shifting his weight back and forth, his shoulders hitched slightly, a clear indication he wasn't looking forward to this. She resisted the urge to tease him and instead turned to Judith who was standing near her side.

"What if we make a break for it while we're out?" Luna's signs were clipped even though the rest of the group, Leland, Simon, and another test subject, Christine, couldn't understand her motions.

Judith shook her head. "We're going even deeper into the city. There's no way we'll make it out alive. And we can't take them all on," she signed back.

Luna's teeth gritted. "All we have to do is slip out as soon as they're not watching. We can handle biters. We have before."

Judith scraped her foot against the floor. "We barely made it back last time, Luna. We stick to the plan." There was a double connotation to her sign for plan, and Luna loosened her jaw. She saw Mal coming up behind them out of the corner of her eye, carrying a large duffle bag as he approached, and smirked.

"Maybe I'll get the chance to save the hand licker's life," she signed, sarcasm and aggravation dripping from every twitch of her hands before she turned from Judith towards Mal.

"Alright, as promised, weapons." Mal set the bag onto the floor and they all crouched down. He distributed one fully loaded handgun, a spare clip, a knife, and holsters for both weapons to everyone except for Judith and Luna. "I have something special for you two."

From the bottom of the bag he pulled out the gleaming Colt revolver that Judith had been carrying as a back up weapon the day they'd been kidnapped. It was just as powerful as her father's python but fit her hand better and had better balance for her lightly muscled frame than the heavy weight of her father's gun. This, along with the gun belt, with the spare bullets running along the length of the holster, he handed to Judith, who took it from him in awestruck silence. She stroked the leather of the belt, ran her fingers along the length of the bullets, and then quickly belted it on. She drew the gun with practiced ease, spun it by the trigger guard on her fingers, the ease and grace of the motions startling to the others but it brought a smile to Luna's face. When she replaced the gun into its holster Mal also handed her the knife she'd had on her the day they'd been taken, which fit snugly into its sheathe on her other hip opposite the gun.

"Don't think I forgot about you," Mal said softly with his eyes now on Luna. Her gut squirmed in anticipation as he withdrew the last items from the bag.

Holstered to the belt she'd worn the day her life had been turned upside down was one half of the set of silver plated nine millimeter handguns she'd had on her that fateful day. She took the gun straight out of the belt and caressed the cool, smooth metal, the textured grip that fit her hand perfectly, the barrel that always led her bullets straight and true no matter the chaos around her. A flood of memories washed over her, days her father and Rick had taken her and Judith down to their target range to teach the girls how to shoot, the calloused touch of their larger hands showing them how to hold and aim the weapons accurately. How to squeeze the trigger and to steady their hands so second shots didn't swing wild from the recoil of the gun. All those little nuances that made a weapon unique and special to the holder. She had of course fired her father's gun, and even Rick's python, and concluded that though she liked the heavy feel of the larger guns, nine millimeter bullets were much easier to come by and so for practicalities sake she'd chosen the lighter weapon.

She quickly belted on the holster and slid the gun back into its sheathe, and Mal also handed her a spare clip that she tucked into the belt as well. "One last thing," he murmured. He dug into the bottom of the bag and came back with a very curved sheathe for a very specific blade. Luna's heart threatened to slam free of her chest and tackle Mal in sheer excitement and eagerness for the weapon to be placed in her hand. When he did hand it to her she withdrew the blade and felt herself almost ready to cry. The blade her parents had given her, with the engraved words of advice marked into the handle, the thing she'd missed perhaps the most except for the people she had lost, was finally back in her hands. She was already wearing the vest that had the inside straps sewn into it to hold the knife in place. Even as she held the knife and turned it over and over in her palms, she pressed her nose into the fabric of her vest and breathed in deep. Despite having been washed she swore she could smell juniper, pine, and cool mountain air, all the smells of home. Her heart began to ache, but she felt more complete than she had since she and Judith had been taken. Her knife slid right into its sheathe inside the vest and pressed lightly against her ribs, it's weight a comforting presence.

"When we get back I'll have to take them. But we would not be so callous as to discard such useful tools. Or ask you to go out there without something to defend yourself with."

Luna was so lost in her own thoughts she barely acknowledged Mal's words. She took a step near Judith's side and looked at her sister who shared the sentiment running through the younger of the two girls. She managed to quell the tears that threatened to escape her eyes and instead signed "I'll do anything it takes to get us out of here. Anything."

Judith nodded and they both let the moment diffuse before Mal or anyone else could question what they were saying. Luna then sidled away and took a position right at Mal's shoulder and met his eyes.

"And now it would seem it's my turn to show you how to really use them," she snickered. Her laugh was full of gravel and teeth but Mal's eyes glinted with the spark of competition.

Leland punched the code that he'd obtained from Jenner written down on a small piece of paper that would let the steel door open for them. Once they made it back tonight Jenner would reset it so they wouldn't be able to get back out until the next time they had to go for a run. Tonight they were looking for specific chemicals from the plant that he needed in his lab, as well as anything else they could salvage that would be of use. They stepped out of the door and onto the wide concrete step that elevated the CDC off of the sloping, overgrown lawn.

"Let's go," Mal hissed.

They swept off the steps, onto the lawn, and up the street that began the Gauntlet, and true to form, the whole area was crawling with biters like ants swarming their hill. Christine drew her firearm and began to take aim but Luna swung her arm and caught her by the wrist.

"No!" she hissed. "One shot kills one, maybe. And draws the whole city to you."

Christine glared at Luna, her dark eyes flashing like obsidian glass. She'd pulled her long black hair into a braid to keep it out of her face but her bangs had escaped and now fluttered near her eyes.

"What do you suggest we do then?" she snarled coldly as she yanked her arm out of Luna's reach.

"Knives out," Judith said, unsheathing hers just as Luna did the same. The handle was cool underneath her palm, the blade perfectly balanced. Security washed over her as she met her sister's gaze.

"They will condense into a group. Then either pick off the edge or slide past," Judith explained as they tentatively began to move forward. Mal kept one eye on the Walkers and one on Luna who was edging all of them out, approaching a small group of Walkers who were pressing together in a tangle of rotted limbs as they staggered after Luna. With a grated snarl, Luna stabbed one through the temple and just as quickly jerked back, an acrid spray of blood releasing when she pulled the knife free. She continued to turn, the spinning motion allowing her to remain uncaught when two more Walkers were coming up behind her.

"Never stop moving!" Judith panted as she slid forward, stabbed a Walker and in the same motion ducked a second and kept on after Luna.

Mal unsheathed his knife and nodded to the other test subjects. They had all been on runs before, but the spacing was few and far between save for Leland who went on almost every run since he knew the layout of the tunnels better than anyone else. They picked their way through the Gauntlet, their pace increasing as the street became more and more crowded. Ahead by about ten yards Luna was perched on the top of a car, having a very good time stabbing Walkers who were reaching for her but she was safely out of reach. When she saw Judith doing battle with five of them but her back remained unprotected Luna launched herself off of the car in a flurry of limbs and long hair, Mal marveled at the spectacle. She hit the ground running, sliding right into place at her sister's back and with an almost indignant snarl she stabbed another Walker that had been threatening to bite her sister's shoulder.

"They're closing in!" Leland warned from his position in an intersection, carefully dodging and sliding around more and more Walkers.

"Move!" Mal ordered.

Now they went at a flat out run, Judith pulling ahead just slightly because of her long legs. Luna kept pace at her shoulder, unable to hear the panting breaths of her companions nor the grated, hissing growls of the biters. Despite being surrounded by death and danger, she felt much more at home here than in that concrete and glass prison. As Mal had pointed out, she might die young, but she would not die dishonestly. She lunged at a biter and stabbed it with a quick flick of her wrist and a sharp tug to claim her blade back. Fierce, and possibly terrible joy, spilled through her as she took the lead over her sister, remembering the route she'd taken with Leland when he'd led them back to the CDC. Her eyes constantly remained forward, sweeping back and forth for any biters in the darkness that might have been coming up on them. The moonlight was thin, but she picked up motion even in the darkness.

"They're surrounding the entrance to the tunnels," she panted as she skidded to a halt at the intersection that marked the edge of the Gauntlet. Down the street and to the right was the manhole they had climbed out of weeks ago but as she had said, the road was crowded with biters.

"Now guns?" Simon panted as he pulled up with the others, directing his question mostly at Mal.

Mal shook his head. "No. We clear them and go down. Deeper into the city for another way in is just more risk."

"Cover us!" Judith hissed to Mal before nodding to Luna and charging forward and then the others could only marvel as the two sisters went to work on the group of twenty or so Walkers. They tagged team, darting in and out close to the hemmed in group, stabbing, jumping back, spinning and slashing, dropping bodies like flies in the brutal heat of summer without rain. Other Walkers were beginning to hem them in and Mal set the others to work, their arms beginning to throb with pain as they swung their weapons and plunged blades through skulls to give the two girls time.

"Let's go!" Judith hollered over the mounting sounds of growls from Walkers who were staggering towards them from the Gauntlet and other streets as well.

The others charged forward, stepping over the recently felled bodies before sliding down into the hole in the middle of the street. Christine went in first, than Leland and Simon. Luna nudged Judith and she clambered down next.

"Ladies first," Mal snickered.

Luna rolled her eyes, spun, and slashed an approaching Walker across the face before delivering a swift but controlled kick to Mal's ankle, spurning him to move while she guarded the entrance. She felled another two biters before scrambling down into the tunnel beneath the streets.

"Come on, we need to keep moving, they'll find their way in eventually," Leland pressed. He flicked on his flashlight and began to lead them through the tunnels.

Despite her bravado above ground, much of it melted now that Luna lacked any type of natural light. Leland's flashlight only did so much to cut the darkness, and it only increased the potency of the shadows outside the narrow beam of light. The close, confined tunnels made Luna's skin crawl. At one of the turns when Leland was searching out the route, Judith arched her eyebrows at Luna and very subtly tipped her head at Mal, who also seemed uncomfortable underground.

"Afraid of the dark?" Luna teased, her teeth flashing in her smirk as she pushed down her own nerves.

Mal's brow furrowed and he rolled his eyes. "Hardly. It's just filthy down here."

Luna laughed again. "Someone's a neat freak."

"It's true," Simon piped up from a few paces ahead of them. "You should see his room. If you touch something he throws a fit."

Mal glared at Simon for a second while Judith signed the conversation to Luna since she hadn't been able to read their lips in the darkness. When Luna had caught up her laughter grew, and lost most of its sneer and though hoarse it rang with sincere humor. The sound made Mal's spine twitch in ways he wasn't familiar with.

"What's so funny?" he demanded, making sure Luna was looking at him so she could understand.

"You," she huffed through her laughter. "Big bad wolf Mal is afraid of getting dirty." Her eyebrows waggled at him and her lips twitched into what he recognized was genuine amusement. Even though it was at his expense, he liked the expression. It softened her wildness and made her seem much more like them than she had before.

To save his face though, he rolled his eyes. "Oh really?" he asked with an arched brow. He let his hand touch the grimy wall of the tunnel and drag across it, ignoring the way he was inwardly cringing in revulsion, before taking his now filthy hand and smearing the grit all over Luna's arm.

She responded to his touch immediately, yanking her arm back away from him as fast as she could, but when he caught her eye, he saw she wasn't angry. There was a mischievous expression on her face, like she was concocting a plan that would have consequences he wasn't going to like. She struck faster than a viper, pouncing on him and knocking him to the ground, smearing mud and filth all over him while they rolled together, each one trying to get the upper hand.

"Alright children, really?" Leland muttered as he stood over them as they both looked up with mostly innocent expressions. Well, Mal's was innocent, Luna couldn't stop herself from grinning wildly.

"Seriously, why are you stopping this?" Simon teased, playfully pushing Leland in the shoulder. "Go on Luna, keep doing it, I love to watch Mal squirm!"

That was all the encouragement she needed. Luna grabbed Mal by the hair and twisted him over so she was sitting on his back even as he bucked and struggled underneath her. It was taking all her strength to hold him down, his muscled frame almost unseating her several times as she fisted a hand into his hair and pushed his cheek down into the grit. He managed to get one arm free out from under his torso and he clocked Luna a good one in the ribs, finally managing to unseat her. He rolled in the same motion, colliding with the tunnel wall but still managing to clamber over her, panting for breath as he did so.

Now they were both smeared with grime and even though he was holding her down, Luna showed no fear. Only eagerness to keep going, to see who was really stronger and more dominant of the two. They were both gasping for breath and though she stopped struggling, Mal didn't let go of Luna's wrists or ease up on the pressure he was using to keep her pinned down.

"We're going to have to split the wash water rations in order to clean up," Mal muttered, his now tangled hair hanging down in his face, casting even darker shadows over his steel grey eyes. Luna snickered and bucked underneath him but he wouldn't let her go.

"As if water could ever get me clean. I'm bad to the bone," she hissed, remembering the expression her mother would sometimes tease her with. And right at the precise moment she lunged up and knocked her forehead clean into Mal's, sending him reeling back and she scrambled out from under him.

"Ow! That was totally not necessary," Mal huffed as he rubbed his head, very sure he was going to get a bruise.

Luna snickered. "I win."

"Seriously, can we go? I don't really like the idea of getting torn to pieces at any second." Christine crossed her arms over her chest and stared down at Mal who was still looking up at Luna from the ground. Simon offered Mal his hand to help him up and he gratefully accepted as Leland resumed leading them through the tunnels. But now he couldn't take his eyes off Luna, watching the confident sway of her hips and the way she'd sneak glances at him every so often. Every time it was deliberate, and every time it was with a cunning gleam in her eye that whispered to him the idea she might be planning on a way to eat him alive, and that despite all prior notions, they both would enjoy it immensely.

The rest of the run was uneventful, even the return trip back up the Gauntlet, the other Walkers having mostly dispersed, leaving them free to make their way quickly and mostly unhindered back into the CDC. Once they were back inside they returned their weapons to Mal, Luna being the last to surrender them. First her pistol, and then her knife; she refused to let go of it even when Mal's hands closed around the holstered blade.

"You fought well tonight. You helped keep us safe."

She looked up at him and tried to remember their previous encounter. It had been playful, teasing, and the lingering evidence of it was still smeared across their skin. But now, faced with him stripping her weapon away, she lost that sense of sentiment.

"I didn't do it for you." There was the hint of a snarl in her voice that put a cold trickle of fear down Mal's spine. She let the knife go and without another word turned and stalked away.

Judith sighed quietly as she watched Luna leave. "I guess I expected too much too soon," Mal said heavily.  
Judith shrugged her shoulders. "Give her credit, a couple days ago, she probably would have tried to stab you and make a break for it."

Mal arched his eyebrows and took in the older sister for a long moment. "Which makes me wonder why she's all of a sudden playing nice."

Judith's gaze hardened. "We're trying to make the best of a shitty situation. Maybe she's finally figured out that picking fights just makes things worse."

Mal snorted. "I doubt that. I doubt she's turned over a new leaf so easily."

Judith shrugged again, her slender form reminding Mal very much of a bird, and her eyes were reflective like a hawk's gaze. "You didn't seem to mind it down in the tunnels. I thought you two were about to start making out."

Mal rolled his eyes. "As if I'd kiss the same mouth that tried to tear my throat out."

Judith snickered, her eyes still gleaming. "Tell yourself fairy tales all you like, Mal. Just remember. She's not a cuddly puppy dog. Go in for the pet and you just might lose a finger or two." She turned on her heel and walked away, leaving Mal standing in the lobby looking like a fool. But the whole way back to the armory he couldn't deny the way he had been watching Luna so closely, and the thought that had crossed his mind that he would very much like to know who she was behind the bristle of her snarl and the growl in her throat. He thought maybe he'd seen a flash or two of it tonight, and it drove him mad that he wanted to know more.

By the time she came back to the dorm room, Luna had already cleaned up and was settled into her bunk. Tau was sound asleep (and the blissful thing about Tau was that once she was out, it would take a second apocalypse to wake her) and Leland wasn't back yet. Judith arched up on her toes to get Luna's attention.  
"Nice job tonight. I dare say you're making him fall in love with you," Judith teased.

Luna lifted her hackles a bit. "I fucking hope not. That's the last thing I need."

"Oh don't act like you didn't like it. I saw you grin like an idiot at him."

Luna reached over and tried to yank a handful of her sister's hair out but Judith was expecting the jab and ducked out of the way. "Acting's easier than I thought," Luna muttered quietly just before the door swung open and Leland let himself in.

But when she lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, she couldn't block out echoed feeling of Mal's hands on her wrist, the warmth and tightness of his grip, the grin on his face, the shadow that haloed his eyes that sparked in their dark caverns just like her knife when held in sunlight. She drove her fist into her pillow and gritted her teeth.

_You hate him. You'd kill him if you had the chance. _

She thought it was her father's voice, as much of what she knew it sounded like, answering her own thought, and it turned her dreams to foggy shadowed things that didn't let her get anything close to rest.

_Don't lie to yourself, Luna. Lie to the whole damn world if you have to, but don't ever lie to yourself. That's the best way to let the world turn you into a monster. Don't lie to yourself…_

* * *

**FanFicGirl10**: _Well finally Benjamin has a lady in hid life, he really does deserve her, I hope Ivy stays. Oh there goes Fox again hurting Daryl, she really does need to learn to control her anger and not lash out to the person who loves and understands her the most. Update Soon!_

Mm, indeed. The relationship between Benjy and Ivy is strained and foggy at best because it's been so long since they've seen each other and Ivy is definitely…not who she used to be for sure. As for Fox…she's trying to hold it together as best she can, but she's never had a lot of skill when it comes to coping peacefully. Daryl understands her though, but everybody has a breaking point….it's definitely not going to get any easier that's for sure…

**Brittney**: _Another great chapter, I liked how this one was set out and Benjy's backstory was great! Can't wait for the next chapter! :)_

This chapter was so hard to write. Like I said in the A/N I had written 20 pgs, and then axed all of it. I'm glad you liked Bejy's background though, I definitely want to bring a little bit more of that in the chapters to come, so I hope I keep you interested =)

**RedneckBunny**: _WHOO-HOO! GLENN IS AWAKE! I can't tell if I like Ivy or not... she's an interesting pairing for dear Benjy though so I'm excited to see where you take her and that duo. As usual, I hate the wait, but I was wicked happy to read this chapter._

Yaaaay Glenn's aliveeeeee! I just couldn't kill him (although I waffled on it quite a bit, I must say). Ivy, oh Ivy, I'll tell you guys more about her next chapter, she's an interesting girl, that's for sure. As far as her and Benjy being a ship…we'll just have to see where that goes hm? Thanks for sticking with me, seriously, I know the wait is bloody awful.

**Emberka-2012**: _Such strong and full of feelings chapter. So Benjy had found his lost love, well, or she found him. Good that he may have a loved one in these times._

Aye indeed, it's always nice when someone you thought you lost comes back to you, and he definitely needs it now. But it's not just good for him though, it lends a little bit of moral to the whole group I think.

**lunasky99**: _So now Rick knows her real name. I bet it's hard not acting on his feelings towards her. I am so, so, so, so, so, so, soooooooo happy that Glenn's going to be okay. So Ivy and Benjy are going to be a thing? or no?. It's good he has someone he cared about from the old world with him now because he was probably getting lonely (even though he has the group and he loves them it's not the same kind of love). I am so happy you didn't kill Rick. Great chapter! xD. I think I covered everything but I might have missed something... I hate when I cant remember everything. xD_

It is hard for him, because he does love her in a messed up way, and in a similarly messed up way, she loves him too. Because she sees that moral white light shining in him that makes Rick such a great leader, and that's why she goes to such lengths for him, because she'll do anything to protect that light, and the man who embodies it. And yes, I just couldn't kill Glenn, I love him waaaaay to much to do that. So, for now at least, he's safe. Ivy and Benjy, the curiosity surrounding their ship is awesome, I love it. Will it actually set sail though? That remains to be seen ;)


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